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EL ADELANTADO DON DIEGO VELASQUEZ 

Conqueror of Cuba 



FOUR CENTURIES 

OF 

Spanish Rule in Cuba; 

OR, 

Why We Went to War with Spain 



A HISTORICAL SKETCH 



BY 

ITALO EMILIO CANINI 

WITH 

Illustrations from Old and Modern Authorities 

And 

The Latest Official Statistics about Cuba, Porto Rico, 
and the Philippines , 




CHICAGO 

Laird & Lee, Publishers 

1898 



Entered according to Aci jV Congress in 

the year 1898, 

By William H. Lee; 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 

All rights reserved. 



K JVJH \ 



1st COPY f 
1093. 




9 fr 



J^cr<^i)wvv^23, >^ 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter. Page 

I. The Discovery — Mistakes Made on Both Sides 

— The Siboneyes 13 

II. An Unpleasant Task — A Borrowed Glory — The 

Conclusions of Dr. Coke 1 

III. The Conquest — The Story of Hatuey — Los 

Malos Tratamientos — Girolamo Benzoni, and 
What He Saw — Father Montesino and Father 
Las Casas — Exeunt the Siboneyes 18 

IV. The Early Period — Adding Insult to Injury — 

Governors for Revenue Only — Corsairs and 
Pirates — The Storming of Havana by the 
Combined English and American Colonial 
Forces in 1762 — The Events in the Latter 
Part of the 18th Century — The Dawn 32 

V. Thomas Jefferson and the Island of Cuba — The 
Designs of Napoleon — An Undeserved Com- 
pliment Unthankfully Received 43 

VI. The Secret Societies — Advances of Spain — The 
Policy of John Quincy Adams — Tacon and 
Lorenzo — The Decision of the Cortes — Why 
Tacon was Recalled 47 

VII. Narciso Lopez — The Expeditions of 1850-1851 — 
The Martyrs at Fort Atares — El Garrote — As 
You Sow, So Shall You Reap 55 



CONTENTS. 
Chapter. Page 

VIII. A Plea for Lopez— The Influences at Play in 
1850— The Real State of Opinion in the 
United States— The Message of President 
Buchanan and the Little Reason of Senator 
Brown — The Correspondence Between Sec- 
retary Marcy and Ministers Soule and Bu- 
chanan—Spanish Outrages— The Black War- 
rior—The Ostend Manifest— How It all 
Ended— The Wise and Honorable Conduct 
of the United States 73 

XI. The Ten Years' War in Cuba— Proclamation of 
Independence — General Dulce and the Vol- 
unteers—The Orders of Balmaseda — The 
Battle of La Sacra— A Reign of Terror- 
Pacification of the Island by General Mar- 
tinez Campos— The Treaty of El Zanjon and 
How Spain Observed Its Provisions 96 

XI. The Ten Years' War in the United States— The 
Sentiment in 1868— Cuban War News in 1869 
—The Wishes of General Grant— Resolutions 
That Were Not Adopted — The Filibustering 
Expeditions — The brigs "Mary Lowell," 
and the "Lizzie Major" — The Promises 
of Spain — The "Virginius" Affair — How 
Spain Abused the Patience and Forbearance 
of the United States 109 

XII. The Ten Years' War in Spain— Hopes That 
Were in Vain — King Amadeus, His Influence 
and His Abdication— A Modern Cicero — 
Emilio Castelar and the Genius of Spain 128 



CONTENTS. 
Chapter. Page 

XII. The Golden Book of Cuba— The Execution of 
Leon and Medina — The Treachery of Gen- 
eral Mena — A Distinction With a Difference 
— Two Cuban and One Italian Poets 135 

XIII. Public Opinion Abroad — The Forests of Royal 

Palms Between New York and Washington 
— The Congressional Express — A Bouquet of 
Flowers From the Paris Figaro — Ignorance 
and Vitriol — How a Great Nation is Being 
Deceived 144 

XIV. The Situation in Cuba After the Peace of El 

Zanjon — Outbreak of the Present Revolution 
— Jose Marti, His Work, His Death and His 
Burial — How Matters Stood in Cuba in 
April, 1898— The Brilliant Ideas of General 
Weyler — Why Autonomy is Not Acceptable. 156 

XV. The Feeling at Home — Autonomy — The Situa- 
tion in the Winter of 1897-98 173 

XVI. The Maine — The Outcome of a Commercial In- 
clination — Why Arbitration was not Re- 
sorted To — A Different Interpretation of 
Words — How Revolutions Should be Op- 
posed — Freedom at Last — Why We Are At 
War With Spain — The Genius of America — 
The Future Destinies of Cuba 180 

Notes Pages 197 to 209 

Appendix 210 " 215 

The Climate, from Official Reports " 216 •' 219 



INTRODUCTION. 

This sketch of the events which have taken 
place in the Island of Cuba since the discov- 
ery to our days has not the pretension of being 
an exhaustive history. It is an inquiry into the 
causes which have determined the present state of 
affairs, and into the reasons for which Spain, once 
the dominant power in the new world has gradually 
lost all her possessions, and has declined from her 
position in the front rank of nations, where the 
genius of Columbus had placed her, until now the 
pearl of the Antilles, one of the few last gems in her 
crown, and the most beautiful, is at the eve of being 
wrenched from her. 

A few weeks ago Mr. Carl Schurz wrote the 
following lines: "If we go to war against Spain it 
is of high interest to the American people that their 
motives should be correctly understood by the civil- 
ized world." The truth of these words of the dis- 
tinguished German-American statesman and publi- 
cist is apparent, and it becomes the duty of every 
American citizen to make himself acquainted with 
the circumstances which cause logic, reason and 
right to be on our side in the present conflict, so 
that he may, as far as it is in his power, be enabled 
to convince his fellow-men that the American 



INTRODUCTION. 

people have gone into this war for motives that are 
just and proper. With this end in view, in hope of 
bringing a modest contribution to the good cause, 
I have endeavored to ascertain what the policy of 
the United States and the feeling of the people of 
this country have been with regard to the Cuban 
question since its inception to the present date, and 
to relate the results of such a study truthfully and 
impartially. 

I am indebted, for the facts on which this inves- 
tigation is based, to the following authorities: 
Benzoni, Historia del Mondo Nuovo" — Southey, 
"Chronological History of the West Indies" — S. 
Doporto, in "Diccionario Enciclopedico Hispano- 
Americano" — Coke, "History of the West Indies" 
— Gomara, "Historia delle Indie Occidentali" — 
Ballou, "Historv of Cuba" and "Due South" — Kim- 
ball, "Cuba and the Cubans" — Murat Halstead, 
"The Story of Cuba" — and others. As regards the 
history of the last fifty years I have largely availed 
myself of sucn documents, American and Euro- 
pean periodicals and newspapers, and other publi- 
cations as I have been able to find in the libraries 
in this city. 

ITALO EMILIO CANINI. 

Chicago, May 25th, 1S9S. 



SPAIN. 

A scarred old snarling lion, with scraggy tattered 

inane, 
His claws and teeth all broken, lies the ancient 

realm of Spain; 
With the thirst for blood still on him, and still 

with hungry maw, 
He rends poor bleeding Cuba, prostrate there 

beneath his paw. 
He's a fierce and famed man-eater, and from early 

days of yore, 
Has ravaged many an island, wasted many a teem- 
ing shore. 
And the victims number millions whom his strength 

has overpowered, 
Whom with ravening, bloody slaughter he has 

mangled and devoured; 
But his roar grows faint and hollow, and a hunter 

from the West 

Will snatch away fair Cuba, with her torn and 

bleeding breast, 
And send him howling, limping, reviled of gods 

and men, 
Back to growl midst bones and darkness in his 
mediaeval den. 

—From the Neto York Tribune. 




Part of the Map of Central America, Florida and the West Indies. 

Engraved at Francfort in 1594, by Theodore De Bry, for the Latin Edition of 
Girolarno Bonzoni's Historia del Mondo Moro. 



FOUR CENTURIES OF 



SPANI 



IN CUBA 



CHAPTER I. 

An Unpleasant Task — A Borrowed Glory— The Con- 
clusions of Dr. Coke. 



"History," said a great writer, "is a mixture of 
good and of evil, with here and there a glorious 
page."* 1 ) But he who would undertake the study 
of the methods which Spain adopted in conquering 
the Island of Cuba, and in retaining its possession 
for four hundred years, with the expectation of 
finding such a page, would commit a grave error, 
for he will meet with the story of no deed on which 
he may dwell with satisfaction, and which may, per- 
haps, even cause him in a moment of thoughtless and 
quickly repressed enthusiasm, to congratulate him- 
self that he is a member of the human race. The his- 



(i) This sentiment, or one very much like it, has, I think, been 
expressed by F. D. GuerrazM. 



10 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

tory of Cuba is not pleasant. It makes one feel as 
if man were an animal very much inferior to a dog, 
and very little better than a tiger. It is, almost 
since the instant the foot of a white man first trod 
its soil until the present day, a tale of cruelty and 
corruption, of oppression and ferocity, which, for 
its continuity and its long duration, stands un- 
equalled in the annals of the world, a monument of 
shame to the Spanish race, a blot on the conscience 
of humanity. It shows us that most of the evils 
of which that unfortunate island suffers at the end 
of the nineteenth century at the hands of its rulers, 
are the same under which it was groaning at the 
close of the sixteenth century, and that its lords 
have persisted from generation to generation in the 
same mismanagement and maladminstratidn, with 
the same blindness and obstinacy, learning no lesson 
from the past, seeking no improvement for the 
future. 

"Spain," says Coke, in his "History of the West 
Indies," "has had the honor of discovering the new 
world, and the disgrace of murdering its inhab- 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 11 

itants. The former of these deeds she effected 
through the genius of a daring and enlightened 
foreigner, but the latter through her own native 
spirit, trammelled by intellectual fetters, and ac- 
customed to human blood;" and he concludes that 
"Spain has borrowed her glory and merited the 
detestation of mankind." Strong words these, but 
which, written, as they were, in 1808, have proved 
true to this day. Born four centuries ago in the 
blood of the native Siboneyes, Spanish rule in Cuba 
dies to-day in the blood of the reconcentrados; the 
former were burnt at the stake, the latter were 
starved to death. 

She has exploited the seemingly inexhaustible re- 
sources of the island with the same greediness with 
which she exploited the gold mines in other parts of 
her American possessions, when in her anxiety to 
secure the coveted metal she cared nothing for the 
life of the miserable Indians who perished by the 
thousands under the burdens and the hard tabor 
which she imposed on them during the course of 
the work. 



12 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

Let us, at once, give Spain credit for what she has 
done. She has abolished slavery. She has not 
clone it until a few years ago, it is true, and she was 
the last one of the civilized nations to do it, but — 
no matter how, or when, or why — she has done it. 
When this has been told, the only word that can 
relieve the story has been spoken. (1) 

(!) See note 2, page 199. 



CHAPTER II. 

The Discovery — Mistakes Made on Both Sides — The 
Siboneyes. 

The island which the Spaniards were to surname 
"the ever faithful," but which might better have 
been designated as the ever unhappy, was sighted 
by Columbus on the 27th of October 1492, and he 
effected a landing on it the following day. He gave 
it the name of Juana, and later it was called Ferdin- 
anda, or Fernandina, then Santiago, and Ave Maria, 
but none of these names met with favor. The natives 
called it Cuba,^ and it was under the Indian name 
that it came to be known generally. 

On the first of November, Martin Alonzo Pinzon, 
who had been sent to investigate the surroundings 
of the landing place, reported that he understood 
that Cuba was a City, and the land a terra firma, 
and Columbus agreed with the captain of the Pinta 
in thinking that they had found the continent of 
India, and that they were about one hundred miles 

(!) The Spanish pronunciation is "Kooba." with the b sounding 
almost like a v. 

(13) 



14 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

from its capital where he supposed that the Great 
Khan, or Emperor, resided. He sent three dele^ 
gates to visit the' interior of the country; they went 
a distance of twelve miles, then returned and re- 
ported that they had found a village containing 
fifty houses and one thousand inhabitants; the latter 
had received them with great joy, as being de- 
scended from heaven. 

That joy was destined to be short-lived, and the 
opinion of the natives as to the origin of the visitors 
underwent, beyond doubt, a material change within 
a very brief period of time. 

The race which Columbus found in Cuba appears 
to have been composed of the descendants of two 
nations that immigrated there before, the Christian 
era, both coming from the southern portion of the 
North American continent. Part of the immi- 
grants were called Nahcas, and were a branch of 
the Apalaches; others gave themselves the name of 
Caribs, and belonged originally to the Cofache 
nation. These immigrants displaced a prehistoric 
race which they found there, being probably a 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 15 

branch of the Mayas, of Yucatan, or perhaps 
blended with it. At the time of the discovery the 
natives of Cuba called themselves Siboneyes. 

While the Caribs, who then inhabited the Wind- 
ward Islands were a fierce, warlike and ferocious 
people, practicing cannibalism, the Cubans, or 
Siboneyes, were on the contrary, a mild, gentle and 
docile race. The island was governed by nine 
Caciques, or Chiefs. Their religion was a belief in 
the immortality of the soul, and in the existence of 
one kind and beneficent God. Their priests, how- 
ever, are said to have been cunning and fanatical, 
and given to exciting superstition among the 
people, in order to prey upon them. The "Historia 
Generale delle Indie Occidentali," written in Span- 
ish by Francisco Lopez de Gomara, the Secretary to 
Hernan Cortez, and published in Italian in Rome 
in 1556, gives us some curious details about the 
wedding ceremonies of the Siboneyes. When the 
bridegroom was a cacique the Droit du Seigneur 
was exercised by all the caciques who had been in- 
vited to the bridal feast, or by all the merchants 



16 . FOUR CENTURIES OF 

when he was a merchant, and by the cacique and 
some of the priests when he was a peasant; after this, 
says Gomara, "the bride was held in very high 
esteem and consideration." 

In May 1494, Columbus, on his second trip, tried 
to ascertain whether Cuba was an island or not, 
but after coasting it for 335 leagues he became 
convinced that it was a continent, and ordered 
Fernan Perez de Luna, and four witnesses, to de- 
clare upon oath that it was the beginning of India, 
and the land which he had intended to find. It 
was only in 1508 that the mistake of Columbus was 
discovered, after a voyage of circumnavigation 
which lasted eight months, by Sebastiande Ocampo, 
whom the King of Spain had sent to investigate the 
matter. Vincent Yanez Pinzon also sailed around 
Cuba in the year 1510, 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 



17 




Father Bartholomew L,as Casas. 
(See not© 3, page 199,) 



CHAPTER III. 

The Conquest — The Story of Hatuey — Los Malos Tra- 
tamientos — Girolamo Benzoni, and What He Saw — 
Father Montesino and Father Las Casas — Exeunt 
the Siboneyes. 

'The lordeDiego Colon being Admirall and chiefe 
Governour of the new India sent one Iaymes Ve- 
lasques to conquer the Ilande of Cuba in the yeare 
1511, and gave unto him armour and other thinges 
necessarie," so we are informed by the "Pleasant 
Historie of the Conquest of the New India, now 
called New Spayne," translated from the Spanish 
of Gomara and published in London in 1578. Velas- 
quez sailed from San Domingo with three hundred 
volunteers and seventy regulars, in four vessels. 
Father Bartholomew Las Casas, the apostle of the 
Indies, and Hernan Cortes, the future conqueror of 
Mexico, went with him. By that time the native 
Cubans had had an opportunity of becoming ac- 
quainted with the real character and disposition of 
the newcomers. Hatuey, a Cacique in whose do- 

(18> 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 



19 







20 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

minions Velasquez landed, was originally from His- 
paniola (Hayti) whence he had been compelled to 
flee in order to save his life, from the slaughter 
which had been made of the natives by the Span- 
iards. When he heard that the latter were approach- 
ing his newly adopted country, he ordered his sub- 
jects to gather in haste all the gold they could 
find, to worship it as the God of the white men, 
and to throw it in the sea. He hoped, by this, that 
the Spaniards, not finding the metal that they were 
so anxious for, would not remain but would sail 
away at once. However he was mistaken, and this 
time he could not escape his fate. He was taken 
and burnt alive. At the stake, a Franciscan monk 
exhorted him to conversion, promising him the 
happiness of Paradise. Hatuey asked if any Span- 
iards were to be found there. "Only the good 
ones," said the monk. The best are good for noth- 
ing," cried the Cacique. "I will not go where there 
is a chance of meeting one of them." 

It has been said, in extenuation of the conduct 
of the Spaniards towards the Indians, that the spirit 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 21 

of the age was harsh and intolerant, and that there 
are many instances of cruelty to the natives com- 
mitted by other nations in the course of their con- 
quests in the new world. While there is undoubt- 
edly much truth in these statements, it is equally 
true that the instances referred to were isolated 
and individual cases, and that no such systematical 
wholesale extermination and wanton butchery of an 
inoffensive people, as were the natives of Cuba, 
(leaving out of the question the Indians of Central 
and South America) was ever committed by any 
other colonizing nation. 

The number of natives, or Siboneyes, existing in 
Cuba in 1511 is variously estimated at from two 
hundred thousand to one million. Twenty years 
later only five thousand of them remained. 

Severiano Doporto, in the "Diccionario Enciclo- 
pedico Hispano-Americano," in trying to excuse h ; s 
countrymen, says that terrible accusations have been 
made against Spain for the disappearance of that 
race, without calculating that the phenomenon re- 
peats itself in our sight, without the possibility of 
cruelty or oppression being alleged; and that the 



22 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

natives were destined to perish by virtue of the 
same mysterious law which causes the disappear- 
ance of the Maoris, the Kanucks. and other peoples, 
among which the. North American Indians. He 
acknowledges however that the mortality was be- 
yond doubt increased by the labors to which they 
were subjected, by slavery, and, he adds, rather 
naively, by los malos tratamicntos — bad treatment. 
There is no mystery in the reason of the sud- 
den vanishing of the Cuban natives, the facts are 
clear and easily understood, and we shall soon see 
what the bad treatment consisted of in reality. 
"Many Indians, besides," adds the Spanish writer, 
"took their own life." 

Why did they do so? He does not say, but 
the answer to this question is given us in the "His- 
toria del Mondo Nuovo" by Gerolamo Benzoni, of 
Milan, who in a spirit of adventure and, as he says, 
to see the new world, left Italy at the age of twenty- 
two, in 1541, and joined the Spanish expeditions. 
He writes as follows in his book, published in 
Venice in 1512. "They went in the woods in de- 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 



23 




24 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

spair, and hanged themselves, having previously 
killed their children, saying that it was better for 
them to die than to live so miserably, serving such 
wicked and ferocious robbers and tyrants." 

History records with honor the name of Father 
Antonio Montesino, a Dominican monk, who pro- 
tested against the atrocities which were being com- 
mitted by his companions. In consequence of his 
efforts, an edict was published, in 1511, by which 
the Indians were declared free, and it was ordered 
that they should be treated as such; they were not 
to be flogged, or forced to carry burdens, or to 
work on Sunday. Spain was thus beginning, at 
that early date, that series of promises to the natives 
of the island which were to be forgotten almost as 
soon as made. 

Father Bartholomew Las Casas, who perhaps 
owed his humane instincts to the French blood 
which was coursing through his veins, for his father, 
Francois Cazans, had been a Frenchman, declared 
in 1515 that the Spaniards had destroyed the 
Indians with great cruelty. "His writings," says 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 25 

Raynal, "have branded his countrymen with a dis- 
grace which time has not and will never efface." 
The Spaniards, said Las Casas, to whom later was 
given the title of "Protector General of the In- 
dians," laid wagers which could with one thrust of 
a sword rip open an Indian's bowels, or cut off his 
head with the greatest dexterity; they burnt them 
at the stake thirteen at a time, in an infamous repre- 
sentation of the Christ and the twelve apostles, fill- 
ing with bullets the mouths of the victims to pre- 
vent their cries. 

It must be conceded that these are indeed malos 
tratamientos, and, in the face of these undeniable 
facts it is quite amusing to read the intensely patri- 
otic, but altogether erratic, manifest recently issued 
by Governor Augusti of the Philippine Islands, in 
which, according to the report published in the 
"New York Plerald" of April 28th, he says, refer- 
ring to the people of the United States, "they (the 
Americans) have exterminated the natives of North 
America instead of giving them civilization and 
progress." These words, in the mouth of a Span- 



26 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

iard, constitute an exhibition of impudence that is 
sublime. 

The protests of Las Casas moved the King of 
Spain to send in 1516 three fathers of the Order of 
St. Jerome to Cuba, to remedy abuses and to pro- 
tect the Indians. The Caciques were told that they 
were free, and several excellent regulations were 
made for their welfare, but the promises, of course, 
came to naught. The three lathers did not accom- 
plish much good, and seem to have developed an 
antagonism against Las Casas shortly after their 
arrival on the Island. Again, in 1528, the King 
repeated his orders that the Indians should be con- 
sidered as free men; in 1532 it was ordered that no 
Indian should be marked in the face with irons; a 
few years later another edict was issued providing 
that no Indian should be made a slave, but that 
they should be treated as royal vassals to the crown 
of Castille; the Indians in Cuba were not to pay any 
tribute. 

Bancroft, in his "History of Central America," 
quotes a number of laws which were made by the 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 



27 




28 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

Spanish kings in favor of the Indians, and he infers 
from them that "writers may possibly color their 
assertions, but by following the royal decrees we 
have what cannot be controverted;" he says that 
Isabella and her successors "stood manfully for the 
rights of the savages," but he admits, however, that 
"there were many ways the Spaniards had of evad- 
ing the just and humane laws of their monarchs," 
and that "the evil proclivities of their subjects in the 
new world were of home, engendering," due to the 
examples set by the monarchs themselves. We can- 
not agree with him when he says that the monarchs 
"protected earnestly, honestly, at the length of cen- 
turies," the natives of their colonies; more likely 
their orders were due to the intention of relieving 
themselves of the importunities of a few generous 
men like Montesino and Las Casas, and without any 
serious desire of compelling their subjects who, as 
Bancroft says, "went their way and executed their 
will with the natives," to observe the decrees; for 
it cannot be doubted that had they really intended 
to enforce the just and humane laws referred to 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 



29 



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30 - FOUR CENTURIES OF 

above, ways and means of punishing the trans- 
gressors would not have been lacking. But Spain 
kept on signing edicts in favor of the Indians 
with one hand, and cutting their throats with the 
other. 

We may surmise how, in fact, those laws were 
observed from the writings of the Italian Benzoni, 
who, as Southey, quoting from Humboldt, says, 
"relates the cruelties of which he was a witness with 
a sense of horror not to-be found in the Spanish his- 
torians of that time." During the course of the 
expeditions in which he took part, in 1542, he saw 
the natives dragged to New Cadiz, to be marked on 
the forehead and arms, and to be played for at dice 
by the Spanish soldiers. 

Sometimes the worm turned. The Indians took 
some of that gold which was the cause of all their 
sufferings, the desire for which had brought to their 
country the men who tortured and murdered them; 
they melted it and poured it red hot down the throat 
of some of their tormentors. This, however, did 
not liappen in Cuba, for the natives there were too 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 31 

mild a race, and tame and incapable of resistance. 
Thus the unfortunate Siboneyes disappeared from 
the face of the earth, slaughtered almost like sheep 
by the strangers whom they had hailed as messen- 
gers of God. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Early Period — Adding Insult to Injury — Governors 
for Revenue Only — Corsairs and Pirates — The 
Storming of Havana by the Combined English and 
American Colonial Forces in 1762 — The Events in 
the Latter Part of the 18th Century — The Dawn. 

The first settlement made by Velasquez, in 1512, 
was at Baracoa; Santiago, Havana, Bayamo, Puerto 
Principe and Sancti Spiritus were also founded at 
that time. The development of the Colonies, how- 
ever, was hampered by the enmity which had come 
to exist between Velasquez and Cortes, and also be- 
cause agriculture, which had been the basis of col- 
onization, lacked hands and was reduced to naught. 
In 1523 the indigenous population was so dimin- 
ished already that the importation of negroes began, 
three hundred slaves being brought to Cuba by 
advice of Las Casas, who thought he could save the 
Indian race by relieving the natives of the slavery 
and hard labors to which they had been subjected. 
This was the origin of the negro population of Cuba, 

(32) 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 



33 




Herman Cortes. 

From an Engraving in Henera's Historia General. 
(Edition of 1728.) 



34 . FOUR CENTURIES OF 

which was to increase to such large proportions in 
the future. 

The Spaniards lived in continual discord. De 
Soto moved from Cuba, in 1539, to the conquest of 
Florida, and his expedition further depopulated the 
country. In 1536 the first Corsair had made his 
appearance in the waters of Havana; he was a 
Frenchman, and he raised seven hundred ducats 
from the inhabitants who were frightened by his 
threat of burning the town. The next day he was 
chased by three Spanish vessels, but captured all 
three, and returning to Havana compelled the in- 
habitants to pay him seven hundred ducats more. 
In 1543 the residence of the Governor was estab- 
lished at Havana. 

It is admitted by Spanish writers that the disorder 
which reigned in the administration of the Island, 
the corruption and cruelty of the Colons, the fanat- 
icism and bigotry of the bishops, during the whole 
of the 10th centurv, could not have been greater. 
'The history of the. Spanish administration of that 
time," says Doporto, "is shameful." 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 35 

An examination of the accounts of Velasquez was 
ordered, or, as the Spanish expression is to denote 
the investigation of the conduct of a public official, 
he was "residenciado" by Zuazo, who' replaced him 
as governor of the Colony, and was himself "resi- 
denciado" a few years later by Diego Colon, a son 
of the discoverer. The next governor, Juan Alta- 
mira.no, came in 1525 to investigate the preceding 
administrations, and the same measure was adopted 
towards him when Guzman was sent to take his 
place. The latter being himself "residenciado" and 
substituted by Juan Vadillo. And so on; governor 
after governor succeeded each other, having been 
sent from Spain to inquire into the misdeeds of his 
predecessor, but the "residenciador," after having 
found out the methods and system of peculation 
Which the former governor had carried on, instead 
of remedying the evils, simply used the information 
for his own benefit, adopting most likely such im- 
provements in his own way of stealing and of im- 
posing on the people as were suggested to him by 
the knowledge which he had acquired of the ex- 



36 



FOUR CENTURIES OF 




The La Cosa Vignette. 

The only reproduction of the features of Columbus, drawn during his life. 

(See note 1, page 197.) 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 37 

perience of others, until he was himself "residen- 
ciado," by another man, who did the same. Several 
of these governors, among others one Gasparo de 
Torres, are acknowledged by Spanish writers to 
have been real bandits. 

French corsairs continued to infest the island, 
one of them sacked Havana in 1543, in spite of the 
fortifications which had been erected. Drake pre- 
sented himself before Havana in 1586, but the Eng- 
lish fleet was defeated, shortly after, near the Isla 
de Pinos. At that time the construction of the 
Castles of Morro and of La Punta was begun. 
Santiago was fortified in 1630. 

The population of Cuba was increased by fugi- 
tives from Jamaica after the latter had been con- 
quered by the English, and reached 30,000 inhab- 
itants, about 1650. In 1658, Puerto Principe and 
Santiago were sacked by pirates, also, shortly after, 
Puerto Principe for the second time, and Sancti 
Spiritus. During the whole of the 17th century 
contraband and piracy reigned supreme, and with 
almost absolute impunity; but the various govern- 



38 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

ors who succeeded each other at the beginning of 
the 18th century erected stronger fortifications, and 
finally routed the corsairs and exterminated piracy. 
Shortly after, the spirit of revolt of the Cubans of 
Spanish blood against the mother country asserted 
itself for the first time; riots broke out in Havana 
and Santiago, caused by several oppressive regula- 
tions of the government. Ogier, an English officer, 
threatened a landing in Havana, at that time, but 
finally desisted from his purpose. Hostilities having 
begun again between England and Spain, an Eng- 
lish fleet under Admiral Vernon attempted the seiz- 
ure of Santiago in 1741, but was repulsed. In 1762, 
however, the English, under Admiral Pococke and 
Lord Albemarle, stormed Havana, which capitu- 
lated on the 13th of August. Victory, perhaps, 
would not have been favorable to the English 
forces, or at any rate could only have been gained 
by them with much more difficulty, had it not been 
for the timely help given them by the reinforce- 
ments which they received at the end of July, con- 
sistingof about 2,300 men from New York, Connect- 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 



39 







40 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

icut and New Jersey, under the command of Gen>- 
eral Lyman of Connecticut, and of Colonel Israel 
Putnam of New York. 

The losses of the English during the siege which 
had begun early in June, were 1,790 men killed in 
battle, besides 700' who died of fever. All the terri- 
tory conquered by England in the Island of Cuba 
was restored to Spain by virtue of Article 19 of the 
Treaty of Peace dated February 10th, 1763, between 
the kings of Britain, of France and of Spain. 

After the conclusion of the peace with England 
the Spanish army in Cuba was reorganized by an 
Irishman named O'Reilly. At that time a regular 
mail service was established between Spain and her 
colonies, calling at Havana every three months. 
The taxes and tributes were considerably increased, 
causing disturbances which, however, were soon 
quelled, among the planters of Camaguey and of the 
Vuelta Abajo. In 1774, a census was taken of the 
population of the Island, and it was found to consist 
of 101,610 inhabitants, of whom 96,530 were whites 
and 71,180negroes, including about 45,000 slaves. In 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 41 

1792, another census was made, showing that the 
total population had increased to 272,000. Three 
years later the cession of Hayti to France caused 
the emigration of about 12,000 families from that 
Island to Cuba, and from that moment dates the 
beginning of the sugar industry in Cuba. 

Although, as we have seen, riots and disturbances 
had taken place before, the real beginning of the 
bitter strife between the Spaniards and the native 
Cuban population may be assigned to the end of the 
18th century, when the dissatisfaction of the native 
colonists against their rulers began to manifest itself 
in political and social contests, notwithstanding the 
fact that the administration of Luis de las Casas 
(1790) was the most tolerable that Cuba had ever 
had. But the spirit of the revolt of the thirteen 
colonies against the domination of England was 
abroad; its influence and that of the French Revo- 
lution were, felt throughout the world, and caused 
the hearts of the oppressed to throb and their minds 
to awaken to new desires and hopes. The Cubans, 
then, began to show their opposition to many acts 



42 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

of the government, and to discuss and criticise the 
actions of the authorities. Even women took a 
lively part in the struggle, and those who were 
opposed to Spanish domination adopted the custom 
of cutting their hair, a curious way of showing 
their disaffection, but which served the purpose ot 
distinguishing them from the women of the oppo- 
site party. 

Thus it was that, in the last days of the dying 
century, a faint ray of light dawned above the dark- 
ness which had enveloped Cuba for wellnigh three 
hundred years, and by this gleam the precursors of 
"Cuba libre" read in the future the promise of a 
better day. 



CHAPTER V. 

Thomas Jefferson and the Island of Cuba— The De- 
signs of Napoleon — An Undeserved Compliment 
Unthankfully Received. 

The first evidence of the interest which the 
United States have ever since taken in the destinies 
of the neighboring island may be said to date from 
the time at which the purchase of Louisiana was 
proposed. It was at about that time, or shortly 
after, that Thomas Jefferson (1) thinking that Spain 
might be induced to cede Cuba as France agreed to 
cede Louisiana, wrote that Napoleon would cer- 
tainly give his consent to our receiving the Floridas, 
and with some difficulty possibly Cuba. "I would," 
wrote Jefferson, "immediately erect a column in the 
southernmost limit of Cuba, and inscribe on it Ne 
plus ultra, as to us, in that direction. We should 
then have only to include the North in our con- 
federacy, which would be, of course, after the first 
war, and we should have such an empire for Liberty 

P) Murat Halstead, "The Story of Cuba," page 28 and 29, 

(43) 



44 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

as She has never surveyed since the creation; and 
I am persuaded nc constitution was ever before so 
well calculated as ours for extensive empire and self- 
government." 

The fortifications of Cuba had been increased at 
the end of the 18th century by Governor Santa 
Clara, who feared an attack by England, but during 
the governorship of Somaruelos several coast towns 
were nevertheless assaulted and sacked by English 
corsairs. Somaruelos in arming the natives and 
encouraging them to resistance proclaimed that 
Englishmen being "no christians" were to be con- 
sidered as enemies of mankind; which shows us 
that Augusti had some predecessors among his 
compatriots in the matter of making wild and extra- 
ordinary statements. 

In 1808 news was brought to Havana by Juan 
de Aguilar of the movement initiated in Spain 
against the French. "Juntas," or Committees were 
organized for eventual defense; 6,000 unnaturalized 
Frenchmen were expelled from the island, not a few 
murdered, and many houses and plantations be- 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 45 

longing to them or their sympathizers were de- 
stroyed. 

These excesses were undoubtedly committed by 
the "Peninsulars," as the inhabitants of Cuba who 
are natives of Spain are called, to distinguish them 
from the natives of the Island, to whom the name 
of "Jnsulars" is given. It was among that same 
class, the Peninsulars, which at the present time is 
said to comprise about one-fifth of the white popu- 
lation, that the notoiious Volunteers of the future 
Cuban revolutions were to be recruited. What the 
attitude of the real Cubans, the Insulars, was at 
that time, I have not been able to ascertain, but 
although the Cuban provincial council resolved that 
the island should remain devoted to the Bourbons, 
after they had been deposed by Napoleon, and 
although it recognized, in the same Resolution, 
Ferdinand VII. as king, I believe that the great 
mass of the genuine Cuban, the Insular, population 
merely remained passive. Perhaps the rather more 
liberal administration of Don Luis de las Casas had 
had an effect in that direction, but more likely the 
Cubans were simply indifferent before a prospective 



46 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

Change of masters, although Heaven knows that 
they could not have fared worse. 

The freedom of commerce was obtained through 
the exertions of Francisco de Arranjo', the most 
illustrious name, says Ballou, in Cuban history. 

In 1810 Napoleon being anxious that Cuba 
should arise against Spain sent an emissary, Jose 
Aleman, to promote a revolution, but his man was 
captured and promptly hanged. After this, Spain 
decorated the island with the title of "the ever 
faithful," thinking, undoubtedly, that its bestowal 
was ample compensation for all past and future 
grievances. Cuba has ever since borne the new 
affliction with resignation, feeling much as a man 
would who being confined to a prison cell by four 
stone walls and a few iron bars hears himseli 
praised for his good home-staying qualities. In 
1814, possibly as a reward for her faithfulness, all 
such liberal concessions as she had enjoyed under 
the administration of Don Luis de las Casas, were 
suppressed by Ruiz de Apodaca, whom the "Bour- 
bonesque" reaction sent as governor to the island 
in that year. 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Secret Societies — Advances of Spain — The Policy 
of John Quincy Adams — Tacon and Lorenzo — The 
Decision of the Cortes — Why Tacon was Recalled. 

In 1820, we find the troops in Havana revolting 
against Governor Cagical and compelling him to 
proclaim the constitution of 1812; but its benefits 
did not last long and soon the reactionary party 
had everything its own way again. At about that 
time, and notably in 1823, a number of secret soci- 
eties were formed, such as the "Soles de Bolivar," 
the "Society of the Black Eagle," and many others. 
Some of the authorities on Cuban history state that 
the former of these associations, and others, were 
merely established for the sake of amusement and of 
friendly intercourse among their members, but the 
opinion of other historians that they were intended 
for no suc'h innocent purpose, and that all of them 
were organized in order to conspire for the inde- 
pendence of the islands is much more likely to be in 
accordance with the truth. 

(47) 



48 . FOUR CENTURIES OF 

Spain, in 1825, offered some commercial advan- 
tages to the United States, on "condition that the 
latter should guarantee the possession of Cuba to 
her, but the Spanish offers were refused. It was 
feared by the Spaniards that the people of the con- 
tinent who had arisen against their domination 
would assist the Cubans by sending troops to the 
island in order to overthrow the power of the 
mother country; but the scheme of invasion of Cuba 
and Porto Rico by the combined forces of Mexico 
and Colombia was defeated by the opposition of the 
United States, who feared that Cuba instead of 
gaining its liberty would fall into the hands of 
another European power, a change which could, of 
course, on no account be permitted. John Quincy 
Adams, then President of the United States, said in 
a message that all our efforts would, for that reason, 
be directed "to preserve the existing state of 
things." 

But another sentiment, besides the one contained 
in the recently proclaimed Monroe Doctrine, was 
at the bottom of that opposition. The policy of the 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 49 

United States at that time was influenced, we must 
acknowledge it to our sorrow, by the fear that if 
Cuba should be liberated, or if any other power 
should get possession of it, the slaves might be set 
free, an event which the Southern States of this 
country considered as dangerous for the continu- 
ance of slavery in the United States. This ungen- 
erous feeling, entirely contrary to the principles 
which have created this nation and made it what it 
is, was however in accordance with the prevalent 
desires of a part of the country at that time. 

'The proximity of Cuba," says Henry Wilson, (1 ) 
"to the mouth of the Mississippi river, and its com- 
manding position in the Gulf of Mexico, made that 
island a matter of interest and importance to the 
people of the United States, whether it was held by 
Spain, or was independent or free. Here, however, 
as everywhere else, the interests of slavery were 
made paramount, and the Slave power controlled 
the action of the government — a fact detrimental 
alike to the well-being and the honor of the Re- 
public. 

(i) Henry Wilson— "Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America." 



50 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

"When the Spanish Colonies in America became 
independent they abolished slavery. Apprehensive 
that the Republics of Mexico and Colombia would 
be anxious to wrest Cuba and Porto Rico from 
Spain, secure their independence and introduce into 
the islands the idea, if they did not establish the 
fact, of freedom, the Slave-masters at once sought 
to guard against what they deemed so calamitous 
an event." 

'Thus clearly and unequivocally," adds Wilson, 
"did this Republic step forth the champion of slav- 
ery and boldly insist that those islands should re- 
main under the hateful despotism of Spain rather 
than gain their independence by means that should 
inure to the detriment of its cherished system. In- 
deed, it would fight to fasten more securely the 
bondage on Cuba and the slave. Such was the pur- 
pose of the hour, and such the animating spirit of 
the national administration." 

The same policy was continued during the ad- 
ministration of General Jackson, when representa- 
tions were made by Mr. Van Buren against the sud- 
den emancipation of a numerous slave population. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 51 

General Vives then suppressed the conspirations 
which had been formed in Puerto Principe and 
elsewhere, and crushed the insurrection which had 
been projected by the Societies. Several of these 
were composed of negroes, and in this, perhaps, 
lay the root of the fears which had been manifested 
in the United States. 

The g-overnment of the Island passed at that time 
into the hands of Gene.raITacon,the Eastern Depart- 
ment being commanded by General Lorenzo. The 
latter, in 1836, was in Santiago, and on receiving 
notice that the Queen Regent of Spain had taken 
oath to the Constitution of 1812, he, without wait- 
ing for the orders of his chief, immediately pro- 
claimed through his Department that the benefits 
of the Constitution would be extended to the Island, 
and granted a national militia, the liberty of the 
press, and other free institutions. 

Tacon, who bitterly opposed the innovations, was 
furious at Lorenzo's action and moved against him 
with his troops. Lorenzo did not fight, but re- 
turned to Spain. The governor then established a 



52 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

military commission which persecuted cruelly all 
those who had obeyed the example of Lorenzo and 
had taken oath to the Constitution; some were im- 
prisoned, others banished, even the soldiers who 
had merely obeyed the order of their officers in 

■e 

swearing to the Constitution were punished, 500 of 
them being condemned to work in the streets of 
Havana with their feet shackled. Tacon, fully sat- 
isfied with his work, -enjoyed his triumph in the 
cause of tyranny, and awaited the decision of 
the home government in the quarrel between him- 
self and Lorenzo. 

This is how Spain settled the matter: "The 
Cortes/'^ 1 ) said the resolutions which they adopted — 
'The Cortes using the power which is conceded 
them by the Constitution, have decreed: not being 
in a position to apply the Constitution which has 
been adopted for the Peninsula and adjacencies to 
the Ultra-Marine provinces of America and Asia, 
these shall be ruled and administered by special 
laws appropriate to their respective situations and 

(i) Murat Halstead— "The Story of Cuba," page 61. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 53 

circumstances, and proper to cause their happiness, 
consequently the deputies for the designated prov- 
inces are not to take their seats in the present 
Cortes." 

And thus it has been ever since, and is now at 
the present time; the "special laws" for the Colonies 
of Spain, "proper to cause their happiness" were 
then Tacon's own sweet will, and have been since 
the will of Balmaseda, of Weyler and of others 
of that ilk; for under the Commissions which the 
governors received from Spain, Cuba has practi- 
cally been in a continual state of siege. By a 
strange fatality, whenever Spain has enjoyed a more 
liberal administration at home she has never felt as 
"being in a position" to extend its benefits to her 
dependencies. 

Tacon, after his victory, continued for a time in 
the government of the Island. It is on record that 
he built the finest theatre that Havana had ever had 
and which bears his name to this day; its splen- 
dors, however, do not seem to have caused the 
Cubans to forget their troubles. Incidentally, he 



U FOUR CENTURIES OF 

did not fail to follow the example set by a long 
line of predecessors and to fill his own exchequer 
at the expense of that of Spain and of the pockets 
of the inhabitants of Cuba, both Insular and Penin- 
sular. In fact he went at it so fast and so furiously, 
that at last he came to grief. 

Spain had never intended that the governors she 
sent to Cuba should administer the Island for the 
benefit of the Cubans; they were sent to raise rev- 
enue for the crown, and as a reward for political or 
other service, merely as an opportunity to enrich 
themselves at the expense of the colonists, and with 
the understanding that they might squeeze them for 
that purpose. Tacon entered into the execution of 
the second part of this programme with such an 
enthusiasm that perhaps he forgot the first one 
entirely. Governor after governor had grown 
wealthy in Cuba, but this particular Captain General 
kept such a pace and acted with such a disregard 
of conventionalities that Spain probably feared that 
after he got through there would not be anything 
worth having left in the Island for anyone else. 
Tacon was recalled. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Narciso Lopez — The Expeditions of 1850-1851 — The 
Martyrs of Fort Atares — ElGarrote — As You Sow, 
So Shall You Reap. 

General O'Donnell, in 1839, discovered a con- 
spiration, the object of which was, it is said, to 
liberate the slaves, and he repressed it. The separ- 
atist group, however, — or secessionists — had come, 
as a natural result of Tacon's tyranny and robbery, 
to constitute, a strong and well-organized party, and 
it was beginning to find favor and sympathy in the 
United States; still the governor and the govern- 
ment showed themselves disinclined to grant any 
reforms. Outbreaks among the negroes occurred 
in 1844 at Matanzas, and again in 1848. But it 
was not till two years later that the first well de- 
fined, open and organized attempt at revolt against 
the Spanish yoke was made; at its head was Nar- 
ciso Lopez, a man who was to become the first 
martyr for the independence of his country, and 
whose memory all Cuban patriots, and all lovers of 

(55) 



56 



FOUR CENTURIES OF 




Narciso Lopez. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 57 

liberty, to whatever nationality they may belong, 
should respect and revere. 

Narciso Lopez was born in the year 1798, or 
1799, in Venezuela, then a colony belonging to 
Spain. His father was a wealthy landed proprietor, 
owning large estates on the "llanos," or plains, of 
that country. According to the usual life of the 
llanos, Narciso passed almost from the cradle to 
the saddle, or rather to the unsaddled back of a wild 
horse. 

When he reached the age of fifteen, an event 
occurred which caused him to enter the military 
profession, although, it is said, much against his 
previous wishes and inclinations. Civil war was 
then desolating the Spanish South-American prov- 
inces, and through its operations his father had 
been deprived of nearly his entire property, or hact 
seenitrenderedunproductive anduseless. With such 
means as he was able to realize Lopez established 
himself in business in Caracas, and his son, although 
a mere boy, assisted him by managing a branch 
located in the town of Valencia, in the interior of 



58 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

the country. It was then, in the year 1814, that 
Bolivar, the celebrated liberator of Colombia, fought 
and lost the great battle of La Puerta; in order to 
protect his own retreat he induced the inhabitants 
and the garrison of Valencia to make a desperate 
resistance against the Spanish forces, by promising 
that he would come to their rescue, a promise which 
however he failed to keep. The place fell into the 
hands of the Spaniards after a siege of three weeks' 
duration. It is said that Narciso, though so very 
young, showed the metal of which he was made, for 
he not only took an active part in the fight, in the 
ranks of the Valencians, but he even came to be 
recognized by soldiers and citizens as their leader 
de facto among the men who had collected at the 
particular point which he was defending. 

The two Lopezes managed to escape from the hor- 
rible slaughter which, of course, followed the Span- 
ish victory, but Narciso in indignation and disgust 
at Bolivar's action — unworthy, indeed, of the great 
patriot — and having lost all lie possessed, joined as 
a private the. Spanish army under the command of 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 59 

General Moralez; so that by force of circumstances 
he was thrown on the Spanish side of that civil war, 
and in doing so he was fully justified by the whole 
population of Valencia, or by such part of it as 
remained, which naturally felt very bitterly towards 
Bolivar and would undoubtedly have shot him if 
he had fallen into their hands. 

At the end of the war, after the evacuation of 
Caracas, in 1823, Lopez who had during its course 
given many proofs of courage, and had highly dis- 
tinguished himself on several occasions, had reached 
the rank of Colonel. It may be noted to his honor 
that he was influential in causing the Spanish Gen- 
eral to desist from his purpose of protracting the 
fight against the South Americans, and in conse- 
quence of his services in that direction he was in- 
vited by the patriot government to enter its service 
with the same rank which he held in the Spanish 
army. However he did not accept the offer and 
retired to Cuba in 1823. There, after abandoning 
the service, he married, and established himself, and 
thenceforward he was a Cuban. During the gov- 



60 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

ernorship of General Tacon he was accused of con- 
spiring for the independence of the Colony, for the 
reason, chiefly, that during a dinner he had pro- 
posed a toast to that sentiment; he was subjected to 
a trial, but was acquitted. 

Several years later, he happened to be at Madrid 
at the time that the Royal or Absolutist party, 
composed of the friends of Don Carlos, was threat- 
ening to upset the liberal government of Queen 
Christina, and he took an active part in the execu- 
tion of the measures which were adopted by the 
Queen in disarming the Royalists of the Capital, 
leading bodies of the people in the operations to 
that effect. He was then induced to re-enter the 
army and to join the Liberal party in its fight 
against the Carlists ; at the close of the war he found 
himself a General. 

During the popular insurrection which took 
place afterwards, and which resulted in the expul- 
sion of Queen Christina, General Lopez by the 
desire of the people assumed the command of the 
capital, as Governor of Madrid, and also became 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 61 

the chief of the National guard; afterwards he rilled 
other offices, among them that of Senator. 

In the course of these events, however, Lopez 
never forgot his affection for Cuba, his adopted 
country, and, secretly fondling the resolution of be- 
coming its liberator, he finally resigned from the 
Senate in order to return to the Island. It was 
with great difficulty that the government gave him 
the permission of doing so, as his influence there 
was feared, but he finally obtained it through his 
friendship with Espartero/ 1 ) and he returned to 
Cuba in 1839. 

Lopez did not immediately begin to carry his 
schemes into execution, as he was bound by ties of 
intimate friendship with Valdes, then Captain Gen- 
eral of the Island; but after the latter had been re- 
called, he at once began to make preparations in 
order to educate the Cuban people up to the ideas 
of liberty and independence which he cherished. 

With that purpose in view and by undertaking the 
working of an abandoned copper mine, he mixed 

(*) A Spanish general and statesman, prominent in the history of 
ais country during that period, 



62 . FOUR CENTURIES OF 

with the peasants, the "Guajiros," as they were 
called. He dispensed medical advice and medi- 
cines, being guided by a French manual of prac- 
tice which he had read; in fact, he became one of 
them, dressed in their own costume, and in many 
ways succeeded in making himself familiar among 
them. Having gradually inspired them with hishopes 
and aspirations, he became confident that the entire 
region would rise against the Spanish oppressors 
at the call of his voice. In 1848, he judged that the 
proper time had arrived but was induced to await 
the. result of some communications which had been 
entered into with an American officer who was then 
in Mexico. (1 ) The delay led, through an accident, 
to the discovery of his plan by the government. 
His friends were arrested, but he succeeded in mak- 
ing his escape by embarking on a vessel called the 
Neptune, which landed him at Bristol, R. I. His 
plan, from the first, had always been independence, 
and then annexation to the United States. 

(!) Probably W. S. Crittpnden, a graduate of West Point, who 
too a prominent part in the Mexican war, although he was then 
only 28 yearsfold. Afterwards ho was shot by the Spaniards at Fort 
Atares. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 63 

Such was the man who became the initiator of 
that struggle for Cuban liberty which, though now 
and then interrupted, or baffled, may be said to have 
continued until the present time. 

Lopez sailed from a port in the United States in 
the steamer "Creole" in the spring of 1850. The 
"Creole" was cleared for the Island of Mugeres 
off the coast of Yucatan, where Lopez arrived on 
the 15th of May, and he concentrated there three 
divisions, comprising in all 609 men. Thence he 
moved on Cardenas, and captured the town; but the 
Spanish government, through its extensive system 
of espionage in the United States, had been in- 
formed of all his movements before he left this 
country. Lopez had to withdraw in front of the 
large number of troops which he found ready to 
meet his expedition and was compelled to abandon 
Cardenas. With what was left of his forces he re- 
embarked on the Creole, and left the town, with the 
Spanish man-of-war Pizarro in close pursuit. The 
latter, however, was not able to catch him, and he 
arrived safely in this country. 



64 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

He was arrested at Savannah on the 27th of 
May, but the District Judge before whom he was 
brought with many other members of the expedition 
refused to grant the time which the prosecution 
asked for in order to produce evidence against him, 
and he was discharged amidst the cheers of the 
people. He was re-arrested on the 15th of July on 
the charge of violating the Act of 1818, which forbid 
the fitting out or arming in our ports of ships to be 
used against any "foreign Prince, Colony, District or 
people" with whom we were at peace. (1) He was 
tried with a number of his companions, but the 
prosecution was finally abandoned. 

The funeral oration on this expedition was pro- 
nounced by Queen Isabella in her speech from the 
throne at the opening of the Spanish Cortes, on the 
31st of October, 1850. "Tranquillity," said the 
Queen, "was for a moment disturbed in Cuba by a 
set of foreign pirates who fled before the loyalty of 
the people and the bravery of the troops." 

The "foreign pirates" were the brave American 

(i) The qualifying words had been introduced into that Act for the 
specific purpose of including the Spanish Colonies in South America, 
then in revolt against Spain. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 



65 



citizens who had generously offered their blood for 
the redemption of Cuba. 

An insurrection headed by a patriot named 
Aguero took place in Camaguey early in 1851, but 
was defeated, and its leaders were put to death. 




Fort Atares, in Havana Harbor. 

A second expedition was undertaken by Lopez 
in the summer of 1851. He started for Cuba from 
New Orleans, with about 500 men, in the steamer 
Pampero, and landed at Morrillo, in Bahia Honda; 
but this unfortunate enterprise was doomed to fail- 



66 . FOUR CENTURIES OF 

ure since its inception, for here again the Spanish 
spies had faithfully performed their task. Long 
before Lopez sailed the Governor General of Cuba 
had had timely notice of every movement he was 
to make; letters were sent to him bearing the forged 
signatures of several Cuban patriots, arranging for 
a landing just at Morrillo, so that on his arrival 
there he found the Spanish forces waiting for him; 
thus he was betrayed and trapped. 

After the inevitable defeat which followed his 
fight with the troops which, as a Spanish writer 
says, General Concha moved against him "with an 
admirable activity," Lopez, wandering on foot, at- 
tenuated by fatigue and hunger, was captured 
through the operations of a Spanish spy named 
Castaneda, at Los Pinos de Rangel, on the 29th of 
August, 1851. 

Fifty of his companions, among them the Amer- 
ican officer Crittenden, were shot at Port Atares, in 
Havana harbor; scores of others were loaded with 
chains and sent to prisons in Spain. Among the 
prisoners were, besides the Americans, many Eng- 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 67 

lishmen and Germans. The English Consul 
showed the utmost kindness to his compatriots and 
comforted them to the best of his ability; the officers 
of a German society of Havana did the same for 
their countrymen. As to the American consul he 
told the American prisoners that they had placed 
themselves outside the pale of the law, and that he 
could do nothing for them. 

It was true; they were outside the pale of the 
law, such as it was — And still ... we are at 
liberty to believe that had a man of the stamp of 
Colonel Fitzhugh Lee been the consul of the United 
States in Havana at that time, the unkind and un- 
generous words would not have been spoken. 

Lopez, who on landing at Morrillo had stooped 
and kissed the earth of his country, asked for the 
death of a soldier, "los cuatro golpes" — the four 
shots, but even this was refused him, and he died 
by the garrote, at Havana, on the 1st of September. 
The last words of this hero were "I die for my be- 
loved Cuba." 

The garrote is an instrument of execution the 



68 



FOUR CENTURIES OF 



use of which is especial to Spain. We give here 
two engravings on which it is shown. W One of the 
engravings is a top view of the iron work of the 
garrote. It is attached to the upper part of a post 
about three feet in height. The principal feature 




"El Garrote vil." 

is a peculiarly threaded screw; one-half is left 
handed, the other is right handed. The front half 
of the screw passes through the post and turns in a 
nut fixed in the latter. About an inch from the 
end there is a curved piece to fit the back of the 

(!) Both the engravings and the description which follows are 
taken from "Harper's Weekly" for May 8th, 1869. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 69 

neck. The end of the screw is somewhat rounded. 
, To the back half of the screw a cross bar is fitted; 
from the ends of this two rods pass through holes 
in the post. To the end of one a semi-circular 
cravat of iron is hinged so that it can be closed upon 
the end of the other rod and pinned to it. A half 
turn of the screw will draw back the cravat by means 
of the left hand screw, cross bar and rods, while at 
the same time the point and curved piece will be 
thrown forward an equal distance. There is a seat 
attached to the post which is so adjusted that the 
point of the screw will come against a particular 
portion of the spine. When the culprit (1) is seated 
the cravat is closed and pinned, and at a given sig- 
nal the executioner gives a quick turn to the screw. 
The spine is broken, and death follows. 

The sentence of the court is usually death by "El 
Garrote vil." (2) By the old law if a nobleman is to 
be executed the sentence must be by the "Garrote 
noble." The only difference is that in the first case 
the platform is not sheltered or its floor covered, 

(i) Culprit is the word used by the Editor of Harper's Weekly.— In 
most cases victim or martyr would be a more appropriate one. 
( 2 ) The jow, or cowardly, garrote. 



70 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

while the nobleman can demand to have a roof over 
him and his feet rest on a carpet, t 1 ) There is but 
one garrote in each Department, and when required 
at any place it is sent under an escort of soldiers, 
together with the executioner/ 2 ) 

Lopez who gave up fortune, position and honors 
for his ideal of liberty; Lopez entitled by the nobil- 
ity of his actions to be placed on the roll of those 
who sacrificed their lives for their country, was not 
entitled by nobility of birth to a nobleman's privi- 
lege, and therefore he died by the "garrote vil." 

"History," says Molmenti,( 3) "is made by means 
of comparisons." 

Mark the wise and generous policy adopted at the 
end of the struggle by the victors towards the van- 
quished, both towards the leaders and the privates 
in the ranks of the long and terrible civil war which 
only thirty-five years ago desolated this country. 
Contrast it with the conduct of a nation which by 

(i) This is not due to a proper regard for the health of the occu- 
pant of the chair, but is in deference to the peculiar sense of dignity 
and honor which forms part of the Spanish character. 

(2) The Editor of "Harper's Weekly" wrote this in May 1869, but 
undoubtedly since that time the rush of business must have caused 
an increase in the number both of garrotes and of executioners. 

( 3 ) Pompeo Molmenti— "History of Venice in private life." 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 71 

its barbarism in this nineteenth century dishonors 
the old and glorious Latin Race, and observe the 
results. Here, a people compact, united, insepar- 
able, strong in the faith of its future destinies ; there 
another, drowning in a sea of blood, horror and 
abomination which it has itself created, and which 
as far as it extends to this hemisphere, at least, 
can be wiped out of existence, only by the interfer- 
ence of the powerful arm of the North American 
Republic. 

It is said that a Spanish diplomat, at the outset 
of the present conflict, stated that he entertained 
great hopes that by fomenting the old enmity of 
the Southern States of this Union against the 
Northern, much advantage would be obtained for 
the cause of Spain. What an utter, undescribable 
ignorance this statement which was ridiculed East 
and West, North and South, from Maine to Oregon, 
from the land of the Dacotas to the land of the 
Seminoles, shows of the true feelings of the Amer- 
ican people and of the real state of affairs in the 
American Union! Grant and his advisers sowed 



72 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

generosity and mercy, and reaped gratefulness and 
forgetfulness of all past differences. Spain for four 
centuries sowed death, ruin and desolation, and she 
is now reaping desolation, ruin and death. 



VIII. 

A Plea for Lopez — The Influences at Play in 1850— > 
The Real State of Opinion in the United States — ■ 
The Message of President Buchanan and the Little 
Reason of Senator Brown— The Correspondence Be- 
tween Secretary Marcy and Ministers Soule and 
Buchanan— Spanish Outrages— The Black Warrior 
—The Ostend Manifest— How It all Ended— The 
Wise and Honorable Conduct of the United States. 

The two expeditions of Lopez met with failure 
first because he was betrayed by the spies of Spain 
who infested this country at that time, have infested 
it ever since and infest it to-day more than ever, 
and for this still more potent reason that the times 
were not ripe. 

The most interesting work which was published 
about two years ago by Murat Halstead under the 
title of "The Story of Cuba," contains the following 
passage: "Reference is had in Wilson's History to 
the ill-fated Lopez expedition, which was of course 
in the interest of the formation of more Slave States 
in the United States, and it was that influence that 
made the most of the tragedy." In another part of 

(73) 



74 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

the same work the author says: "The Cuban fili- 
bustering expeditions of a former generation, at- 
tended as they were with the loss of valued lives 
and the transmission of an inheritance of excite- 
ments and hatreds, were distinctly to provide for the 
admission of more Slave States in the American 
Union." 

This is not a fair way of stating the case, because 
it casts on Lopez a shadow which his memory does 
not deserve. Wilson himself describes Lopez as "a 
Cuban adventurer," but he was blinded by his 
righteous indignation against slavery and the 
power that tried to enforce its continuation, to the 
point of committing an injustice against a man 
whose whole life is the best proof that his motives 
were pure and dictated by the most disinterested 
patriotism. A man who had thrown up such a 
position as Lopez had held in Spain in order to 
devote himself to the work which he undertook, 
can hardly be called an adventurer. 

As to the intentions of those who helped him 
by furnishing him with the means of undertaking 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 75 

his expeditions, they were probably — in many cases 
— the outcome of a sincere and honest desire of 
helping Cuba because her cause was just, and in 
other instances based, most likely, upon reasons not 
so generous. For it is unquestionable that here 
again the hydra of the slave power raised one of its 
many heads. The motives of many of those who 
furnished the filibustering expeditions of that time 
with arms, ammunition, etc. were as unworthy as 
those of the Southern Representatives who during 
the administration of John Quincy Adams had pro- 
tested in Congress against the suppression of the 
Spanish domination in Cuba. From the adminis- 
tration of President Polk to the administration of 
President Buchanan, including the latter, the same 
policy in favor of the continuance of slavery pre- 
vailed which had influenced the actions of the gov- 
ernment of this country from twenty to thirty-five 
years before, with this difference, that (1) ''while 
under President Adams, Cuba had been an object 
of dread, it became at a later period an object of 
vehement desire." 



(i) Henry Wilson, "Rise and Fall of tho Slave Power in America," 
2nd vol. page 610, 



76 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

In 1846, an American Company had been 
formed for the purpose of purchasing Cuba for 
two hundred million dollars. In the same year 
fifteen hundred men commanded by Colonel White 
were, on the verge of leaving for Cuba on a filibus- 
tering expedition, but were stopped by the Amer- 
ican government. In 1848 Polk had authorized the 
American Minisfer at Madrid to offer one hundred 
million dollars for the island, but the offer had been 
at once rejected. In 1852, advances were made by 
England and France to the government of this 
country leading to a common action of the three gov- 
ernments in guaranteeing to Spain the possession 
of Cuba, but the proposition was declined. Among 
the reasons assigned by Mr. Everett, our Secretary 
of State, for that declination was one "in which 
slavery though not specifically mentioned was un- 
doubtedly meant, and the apprehended danger 
thereto from the proposed arrangement was urged 
as one consideration why it should not be con- 
summated." (1) 



fi) Henry Wilson, "Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America," 
2nd vol. page 611, 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 77 

The administrations of that time were strongly 
under the influence of Southern interests, (1) and 
evidently the story of the endeavors made during 
all that period to secure the release of Cuba from the 
Spanish rule does not constitute one of the glorious 
pages of American history; nevertheless whatever 
the intentions of the different administrations may 
have been, or of part of those who helped in vari- 
ous ways the expeditions undertaken at that time, 
there can be no doubt that much of the feeling man- 
ifested in favor of the Cubans by the people was due 
to a clean and genuine sense of sympathy for their 
sufferings and to a desire for their relief. 

But if it is certain that the policy of the various 
administrations which have been referred to was 
directed towards the increase of the vote favorable 
to the maintenance of slavery through the acquisi- 
tion of one or more slave states, it is by no means 
equally true that public opinion in the United 
States, or even within the Democratic party, was 
unanimous in favoring the annexation of Cuba, for 
even in the South the opinion was divided as to 

C 1 ) See note 4, page 203. 



78 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

that annexation, or at least as to the time at which 
it might have become desirable. 

I have before me the number for January, 1852, 
of the "Southern Quarterly Review," published in 
Charleston by W. Gilmore Sims. The editor begins 
by making a furious onslaught against Lopez and 
his companions, whom he calls "a .small band of 
desperate adventurers." He says that they had 
deceived the public of this country, that the Cubans 
did notwant tobe separated fromSpain,and that this 
was proved by the failure of the two expeditions. 
"To the States of the North," continues the editor, 
referring to the annexation, "the institution of slav- 
ery in Cuba would have occasioned new difficulties," 
while "to the people of our Southern States what 
motive could there be in bringing the State of Cuba 
under the control of a power from which we are 
almost prepared to shake ourselves free. * * * 
Surely it will be time enough to think of adding 
Cuba to our domain when we ourselves are ren- 
dered secure, no matter by what means, from the 
perpetual annoyance of abolition." 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 79 

Further on he states that "Lopez was a mono- 
maniac," — this is the truth, since he was possessed 
of the same sublime mania which impelled the ac- 
tions of Washington, Garibaldi and a few others; 
only he lacked the means of carrying his aberrations 
of mind to a successful issue — "And," adds the 
editor, "the passion for the liberation of Cuba from 
foreign (not from Spanish) rule was probably just 
tinctured with another passion 'not altogether appar- 
ent to himself by which the acquisition 'and the 
retention' of Cuban liberty was to be enjoyed 
through his administration." The italics are mine; 
it is impossible to insinuate more gracefully an 
accusation to the support of which no proof can 
be brought. The editor tries to prove that Lopez 
was directed by a desire of personal domination 
over the Island, and only succeeds in showing that 
he had a noble ambition of being useful to his 
country. But the mainstay of the charges brought 
by the Review against Lopez was ..... 
Cuban bonds! Truly, there is nothing new under 
the sun. 



80 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

Here we have a perfect illustration of the words 
of the famous Aria in Rossini's - "Barber of Seville:" 

" La calunnia e un venticello" 
which may be translated as follows in English 
rhyme of the same value as that usually found in 
the translations of operatic librettos: 

Slander is a zephyr mild 
'Tis a very gentle breeze 
Which insensibly one day 
Murmurs, whispers, softly whispers, 
Thus insinuates its way. 

And then it goes crescendo, until it bursts out 

"come un colpo di cannone," with the noise of a 

cannon shot — and no one knows how the rumor 

started. 

On such flimsy charges the accusations against 
Lopez have been based. 

In the, midst of that lot of rubbish there is in 
the Review a statement which under an unpolished 
surface conceals a gem of truth. "There is," says 
the editor, "there is a third class among our people 
scattered over all the Southern States, but particu- 
larly active in the Northern, whose sympathies are 
forever at work in behalf of all the world's discon- 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 81 

tents. They are those who believe with the impu- 
dent Frenchman who expressed the opinion that 
had he been consulted at the Creation he could 
have suggested a great many improvements in the 
plans of Providence." 

The exaggeration here is evident, and the sarcasm 
would turn into a Ouixotic sentiment, a most noble 
feeling of sympathy for the oppressed; but those 
words, coming from a source which cannot be sus- 
pected of favoring the plans of the. annexationists, are 
of some value in demonstrating that the attitude of 
the United States at that time has been painted, for 
party reasons, in blacker colors than it really de- 
served, and that the agitation was not entirely due 
to the furtherance of the cause of slavery, for there 
was a "third class" — and it was a large one — which 
was prompted by more worthy motives. 

Nevertheless it cannot be doubted that, in the 
main, what the party then in power was seeking 
was a political balance against the increase of free 
States, and the addition of the white population of 
Cuba to' the Democratic vote. 



82 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

The Democratic National Conventions of 1856 and 
1860 expressed themselves as being "in favor of the 
acquisition of Cuba," and their motive was hardly 
disguised. The administration of Mr. Buchanan 
made energetical efforts in that direction. In 1858 
the President complained, in his annual message, 
of the unsatisfactory condition of the relations of 
the country with Spain. (1) Referring to the partici- 
pation of Cuba in the African slave trade he 
affirmed his belief that the last relic of that traffic 
would disappear if Cuba were annexed. A bill was 
introduced in, the Senate shortly after, placing 
thirty million dollars in the hands of the President 
towards the purchase of the Island, and was favor- 
ably reported on by the Committee on Foreign 
Affairs, but the matter did not come to an issue. 

If the philanthropy of the motives of President 
Buchanan is extremely questionable, there can on 
the other hand be no difficulty in understanding or 
interpreting the, words which Senator Brown spoke 
soon after the adjournment of Congress. "Cuba 

(i) Henry Wilson, "Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America," 
2nd vol. page 612. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 83 

must and shall be ours," said the Senator in a 
speech in New York. (*> * * * It may be 

asked, what do we want of Cuba? We want it for 
territorial expansion, we want it to extend our com- 
merce. Then I have a little reason of my own. I 
want Cuba for the extension of slavery. I have 
freely spoken the sentiments of my own heart and 
of a vast majority of the Democracy throughout 
the Union. The Democratic party is going into 
the next Presidential canvass upon this and other 
questions, and we intend to meet Seward face to 
face upon it." 

We have, however, to go back to the Administra- 
tion of President Pierce in order to find the most 
interesting episodes in the relations of that period 
between the United States and Spain in regard to 
the Cuban question. 

On the 3d of March, 1855, President Pierce trans- 
mitted to the House of Representatives the corre- 
spondence between Secretary Marcy and Ministers 
Soule and Buchanan, who represented the United 

(i) Henry Wilson, "Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America," 
2nd vol. page 612. 



84 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

States, respectively, at the Courts of Madrid and 
Paris. This correspondence showed that on July 
23d, 1853, Mr. Marcy had written to Soule that 
the Island of Cuba was very difficult for Spain to 
retain "in its present state of dependence," and that 
it was "confidently believed" that she could not 
"long sustain, unaided, her present connection with 
the Island." The United States, stated the Sec- 
retary, would resist at all hazards the transference 
of Cuba to any other European nation, but while 
Spain remained "in fact as well as in name" the 
sovereign of Cuba she could depend upon our 
"maintaining our duty as a neutral nation towards 
her, however difficult it might be." Our govern- 
ment could not be suspected of conniving at the 
participation of our citizens in past disturbances in 
the Island. It was insisted that neutrality laws had 
been observed "and could not be made more re- 
strictive without violating the Constitutional rights 
of our citizens." The offer of purchase made under 
President Polk was referred to, and it was stated 
that, however, there had been no intention of pur- 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 85 

chasing the Island "unless its inhabitants were very 
generally disposed to concur in the transfer." Mr. 
Soule was directed to find out what arrangements 
had been made by Spain with Great Britain and 
France in regard to sustaining her dominion over 
Cuba, and how far they, or either of them, were 
urging a change in the internal condition of the 
Island, "particularly in regard to the slaves now 
there or to the present system of labor." Another 
offer of purchase, was not advised, as it was not 
believed that Spain would accept it. The belief was 
expressed that Spain was under obligations to Great 
Britain and France not to transfer the Island to the 
United States, and it was thought that Spain would 
"pertinaciously hold on to Cuba and that the sepa- 
ration, whenever it will take place, will be the work 
of violence." The suggestion was made that "Spain 
might in a manner consistent with her national 
honor and advantageous to her interests * * * 
give birth to an independent nation of her own race, 
retaining at the same time a commercial intercourse 
with it as profitable as she can have in a connection 



86 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

prolonged by force." "Our flag," wrote Mr. Marcy, 
"must be respected and our commerce relieved from 
embarrassment by the Cuban authorities. The 
United States will not submit to have their mer- 
chant vessels searched or detained in their lawful 
voyages." Complaints in this regard, said the 
Secretary, had never received attention. 

In February, 1854, an event occurred which, 
though now almost forgotten, caused great excite- 
ment in this country at that time and came near 
putting an end to the apparent friendly relations 
between the United States and Spain. 

The steamer Black Warrior, a packet-ship of the 
New York and Alabama Line, commanded by 
Captain Bullock, plying between Mobile and New 
York and calling on every trip at Havana, was 
seized under a futile pretense, and in defiance of 
all precedents, by the authorities in the latter port. 
The Black Warrior came from Mobile and had on 
board a cargo of 900 bales of cotton, destined to 
New York. It had been the habit both of the 
Black Warrior and of other vessels engaged in the 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 87 

same traffic, when calling at Havana in transit with- 
out unloading any portion of the cargo, to enter the 
vessel as being in ballast. This, Captain Bullock 
had done on thirty-six previous occasions, and the 
steamers of other lines had done it over three hun- 
dred times; although the proceeding was irregular, 
no objection had ever been made by the Spanish 
authorities, but on this particular trip the vessel was 
seized and a fine of $6,000 imposed on Captain 
Bullock. He hauled down the flag and left the 
Spanish authorities in possession of the vessel. 
Captain Watson, of the United States Steamer 
Fulton, who was then in port, on hearing of the 
outrage, intended to haul his vessel alongside the 
Black Warrior, drive out the Spaniards and take 
her out of the harbor, but finally our Consul, and 
Captain Bullock himself, prevailed on him to desist 
from his purpose. 

A protest was sent by the American citizens re- 
siding at Havana to Secretary Marcy, and the 
latter in directing Minister Soule, on March 11, 
1854, to call the attention of the government of 



88 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

Spain to the seizure, complained of the dilatory 
tactics of that country in other matters of the same 
kind which had been the subject of previous corre- 
spondence. In another letter, dated March 17, the 
Secretary instructed Soule to demand a sum of $300,- 
000 as compensation to the owners of the Black War- 
rior and of the cargo, stating that the course of Spain 
had usually been an evasion of our claims but 
that it would not do in this case. The President in 
his message to Congress of March 15th, trans- 
mitted the report of the Secretary complaining of 
aggression upon our commerce, violation of our 
rights and insults to the national flag by the Span- 
ish authorities in Cuba. 

Soule presented the claim on the 11th of April, 
and pressed it forcibly in several letters; finally he 
obtained an answer in which the Spanish Minister 
of State asked for more time, and complained of the 
"harsh and imperious" expressions of the American 
Minister. Soule answered that the records of the 
Legation were loaded with reclamations bearing on 
grievances most flagrant, which had never been 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 89 

attended to, and were met with just such dilatory 
excuses, and he added: "If there be cases in which 
it may become a great nation to show itself mag- 
nanimous, even under the infliction of most unwar- 
rantable injuries, it can never be when such injuries 
are coupled with so barefaced a disregard of what 
is due to a friendly power, as that which was ex- 
hibited towards the United States in the detention 
of the Black Warrior, and in the confiscation of 
her cargo." The correspondence was continued 
between Soule and Spanish Minister Calderon de 
la Barca, in the same bitter tones and with the 
same unsatisfactory results. In a letter dated April 
20th, Soule referred to no less than twelve griev- 
ances and claims for seizures, detentions and other 
acts against American citizens, stating that these 
cases were only a few of those appearing in the 
archives of the Legation. 

On the 3d of April, Marcy wrote to Soule that the 
President gave him full power to enter a convention 
or treaty for the purchase of Cuba, stating dis- 
tinctly, however, that "in any conceivable arrange- 



90 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

ments of this kind the people of Cuba must neces^ 
sarily be a party to them." Soule in writing to the 
Secretary on the 3d of May advised that a lesson be 
given to Spain. 

On the 16th of August of the same year, Secre- 
tary Marcy wrote to Soule that he was directed 
by the President to suggest to him "a particular 
step from which he anticipates much advantage in 
the negotiations on the subject of Cuba." Fur- 
ther details as to this particular step were withheld 
from Congress, and do not appear in the corre- 
spondence as transmitted by President Pierce. 
"Much may be done," added Mr. Marcy, "at Lon- 
don and Paris to promote directly the object in 
view, or to clear away impediments to its success- 
ful consummation," and he advises him to meet 
Buchanan and Mason (the latter being Minister to 
London), suggesting that a conference be held at 
Paris. 

The conference between the three ministers was 
held at Ostend in October, 1854, and gave rise to 
the famous document known as the Ostend mani- 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 91 

fest. This lengthyand extraordinary paper stated, in 
substance, that Cuba should be obtained from Spain 
peaceablybypurchase,if possible, but byforceofarms 
if necessary, and if its suggestions had been adopted 
the United States would have entered into a war of 
conquest, entirely against the nature of our prin- 
ciples and institutions. The truculent spirit of the 
manifest was probably due to the influence of Soule, 
who' was impatient of restraint and was urging the 
Administration not to delay the solution and to take 
advantage of the Crimean war in which all the 
strength and energies of the European powers were 
then engaged in order to wage war against Spain 
without fear of European interference; he after- 
wards resigned from his post because his sugges- 
tions were not carried out. 

Fortunately, however, for the honor of the 
United States, Soule's policy was not adopted; Mr. 
Marcy wrote to him, under date of November 13, 
1854, that if the "cession of Cuba" had "to be 
hopelessly abandoned for the present" the United 
States would still ask "and pertinaciously insist 



92 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

upon some security against the further misconduct 
of the Spanish authorities at Cuba;" but the claim 
in regard to the Black Warrior was finally allowed 
to drop, the vessel having been released on the 
payment of the fine of $6,000 which had been im- 
posed on the Captain; Spain through her dilatory 
tactics had fully succeeded in her purpose of evading 
our demands. 

Thus, from what precedes may be seen that 
while the party then in power in this country was 
largely influenced in its conduct towards Spain by 
the partisans of the system of slavery, it is not cor- 
rect to say that the filibustering expeditions of that 
time were distinctly to provide for the maintenance 
and extension of that system, for there was un- 
doubtedly among the people a strong sense of sym- 
pathy for the Cubans on account of the wrongs 
which they were suffering, and the United States 
had beyond question many just causes of complaint 
against Spain for the manner in which she inter- 
fered with our commerce and disregarded the re- 
spect due to our flag. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 93 

Let us revert to the maxim which has been so 
justly and correctly set forth by Molmenti. 

Can it be thought that had any European nation 
been in the same position towards Spain in which 
the United States were at that time it would have re- 
sisted the pressure exerted by the dominant power 
in its politics, and refrained from attacking - a weaker 
nation which would have been hopelessly alone in 
the contest? Any one of the claims which the 
United States had against Spain might have fur- 
nished a better pretense for a war than the reason, 
for instance, for which France and Germany went 
to war in 1870. But the policy of the United States, 
whatever may have been the unworthy influences 
which sought to direct it in a wrong channel, was 
and has always been honorable and above board. 
It was not found possible to acquire Cuba by a pur- 
chase, and with the consent of the people of the 
Island, therefore the matter was dropped; no war 
of conquest was undertaken. 

The spirit of the nation had triumphed over the 
spirit of a party; it is fop this reason, because above 



94 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

the party cliques, the rings and the unavowable 
schemes towers the genius of the Constitution, that 
the principles of the fathers of this Republic will 
forever guide it in the path of virtue, of right and 
of progress; and we may hopefully believe that, not- 
withstanding present appearances to the contrary, it 
will yet be this nation which will logically and 
peacefully point the way to those social reforms 
which have become as necessary to our civilization 
as political liberties were to our elders, and are still 
to us. 

Every American citizen is not a saint. It is easy 
enough for some men after a short stay in this 
country to scatter broadcast their hastily gathered 
and mistaken impressions, or for others who would 
abolish the sun because it is darkened by a few 
spots to rake up all the undesirable elements of 
American politics, but the liberal minded man who 
studies the history of this country cannot fail to 
admire this great nation. The slanderers forget that 
for every one of them, to whatever nationality he 
may belong", there are one hundred thousand ox 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 95 

more of his countrymen who have made this coun- 
try their home, and who with few exceptions, what- 
ever may have been their personal success in life, 
have become sufficiently attached to it to adopt it 
as their own. 



CHAPTER IX. 

The Ten Years' War in Cuba — Proclamation of Inde- 
pendence — General Dulce and the Volunteers — The 
Orders of Balmaseda — The Battle of La Sacra — A 
Reign of Terror — Pacification of the' Island by Gen- 
eral Martinez Campos — The Treaty of El Zanjon 
and How Spain Observed Its Provisions. 

While the events which have been related in the 
preceding chapter were taking place several gov- 
ernors had succeeded each other in the administra- 
tion of Cuba. In 1854 the Cuban Junta in New 
York had made preparations for an expedition; 
Captain-General Jose de la Concha threatened to 
Africanize the Island; he armed the negroes and the 
Peninsulars, and disarmed the white native Cubans. 
A conspiration was discovered; two patriots, Pinto 
and Estrampes were garroted, and one hundred 
others were sent to prisons in Spain. The pro- 
posed expedition was given up, and de la Concha 
was created Marquis of Havana as a reward 
for his services. General Serrano, who succeeded 
Concha, and after him General Dulce, were in- 

(96) 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 97 

clined to a policy of conciliation with the Cubans, 
but were strongly opposed by the Ultra-Con- 
servative Spanish party of the Island. The 
treasury had been considerably depleted by Con- 
cha's dishonesty, and economical conditions went 
from bad to worse, till in 1866 the deficit was enor- 
.mous. Lersundi, who succeeded Dulce, was a gov- 
ernor after the heart of the Conservatives; he re- 
established the Military Commissions, as had ex- 
isted in Tacon's time, and the vexations and oppres- 
sions of these Commissions, together with the im- 
position of still heavier taxes increased the dissat- 
isfaction among the native population. Scandalous 
frauds were being committed by the officials in 
charge of the collection of taxes. Undoubtedly the 
execution of Maximilian in Mexico served to en- 
courage the hopes of the Cuban patriots, as it testi- 
fied to the decline of European influence in Amer- 
ica. At about that time, and in the middle of all 
these troubles a bitter quarrel between the Captain- 
General and the Bishop of Havana occurred, and in- 
creased the disorder among the Conservatives; it 



98 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

arose from the grave and important question of 
whether the bells of the churches should ring at the 
entrance of the Captain General into a city, as a 
mark of respect, which the representative of the 
military authority claimed was due him. 

The debt of the Island in 1868 was about 
400,000,000 Reales; (1) the deficit reached nearly 
355,000,000, and still the government was draw- 
ing to the amount of 50,000,000 Reales yearly 
against the resources of the Island, while the people 
were groaning under the weight of the taxes which 
were imposed solely for the benefit of the mother 
country. The crimes and errors of Spain had 
reached a culminating point, and were to result in 
the long and bloody civil war which followed. 

On the 18th of November, 1868, an outbreak 
occurred among the negroes in Porto Rico-, at the 

cry of "Viva la libertad!" and with the object of 
gaining independence from Spain. The Cuban lib- 
erals who had in vain been striving to obtain ad- 
ministrative reforms, the freedom of the press, the 
assimilation of Cubans to the Spaniards in regard 



(!) A real is worth five cents or a little less. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 99 

to political and civil rights, the right of assembly, 
the reduction of taxation, etc., broke out into open 
hostilities on hearing the news. The insurrection 
still lacked a leader, but this was soon found in the 
person of Carlos Emanuel Cespedes. 

Cespedes was born at Bayamo in 1819; he grad- 
uated from the University of Havana and subse- 
quently went to Spain and obtained the degree of 
"Licenciado" of the law (Doctor of law) from the 
University of Barcelona, in 1812; while in that 
country he became friendly with General Prim and 
took part in the attempt of the latter at establishing 
a Republican form of government, but the attempt 
having failed he was banished, and went to France. 
Thence, in 1814, he returned to Cuba where he 
practiced law in his native town of Bayamo. He 
had always been devoted to the cause of his native 
Island and in 1852 he was arrested and held for 
five months in Morro Castle because he had, at a 
banquet, spoken words in favor of the liberation 
of Cuba from the Spanish rule. 

On the 10th of October, 1868, Cespedes pro- 



100 



FOUR CENTURIES OF 




Carlos Manuel Cespedes. 




Captain-General Caballero De Rodas. Antonio Maceo. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 101 

claimed from a sugar plantation in the neighbor- 
hood of Yara, the independence of the Island. He 
issued a manifest, in which the oppressive Spanish 
rule, the immorality of the functionaries, the ex- 
cessive taxes arbitrarily collected, and other evils 
were bitterly complained of, and he announced the 
principles of the secessionists to be the gradual 
emancipation of the slaves tnrough indemnization 
to the owners, equal rights for all, respect to life and 
property, universal suffrage, and free trade. On 
issuing this proclamation he affirmed his sincerity 
by granting absolute and unconditional liberty to 
his own slaves. Subsequently, during the course 
of the Revolution, Cespedes was killed by the Span- 
iards on the 27th of February, 1874, having been 
betrayed by a negro who revealed the hiding place 
of his chief in order to save his own life. 

From Yara, the insurrection spread into the 
other provinces, and the insurgents took possession 
of Bayamo, and successively of Camaguey, without 
meeting serious opposition. A mixed Committee 
composed of both Spaniards and Cubans begged 



102 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

Governor Lersundi to inaugurate a policy of re- 
form, and only succeeded in being treated as rebels. 
Bodies of Volunteers were organized, composed of 
men who were virtually aliens in Cuba, as they 
belonged entirely to the Peninsular class, and these 
organizations became responsible for a large share 
of the outrages which were committed by the Span- 
iards during the course of that war which was to last 
no less than ten years. 

Finally the Madrid Government recalled Ler- 
sundi, and superseded him by General Dulce who 
was somewhat more liberally inclined, and offered 
certain administrative- reforms; but the offer came 
too late and was refused by the insurgents who had 
gained possession of a large portion of the Island, 
and encouraged by their success refused to treat 
unless on a basis of absolute independence. Dulce 
was also hampered in his efforts at conciliation by 
the Volunteers who now constituted an armed and 
ferocious mob, committing numerous acts of cruelty 
and absolute murder, and who for a long time held 
full sway over the Island in defiance alike of the 
government of Spain and of the Insular Cubans. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 103 

General Balmaseda, after several encounters of 
small importance with the insurgents, marched on 
Bayamo which was abandoned by the Cubans, but 
not before they had completely destroyed it. Their 
number continued to increase; Dulce now called 
new reinforcements from Spain and changed his 
policy to one of severe repression. Still this was not 
sufficient to please the Conservatives, or as they 
were called the "Unconditional, " the party among 
which the Volunteers were recruited. Even his 
orders that all property belonging to the insurgents 
should be seized failed to satisfy them, and they 
became so powerful and so desperate in their greed 
for the blood of the Insulars, which Dulce, how- 
ever severe, did not shed in quantities sufficient to 
appease their wrath, that they finally drove the gov- 
ernor away from the Island, in June, 1870. There 
were at that time 110,000 Spanish soldiers in Cuba. 

The Madrid government sent General Caballero 
de Rodas to take Dulce's place. 

A house of Representatives of the Cuban Repub- 
lic, consisting of fifteen men had met at Guaimaro, 



104 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

and voted a constitution. Cespedes, in succession 
of Cisneros whom the Cubans had at first placed at 
the head of the Civil Government, was elected Pres- 
ident, and Manuel Quesada named Commander-in- 
Chief. The latter's place was afterwards taken by 
Thomas Jordan, an American, a graduate of West 
Point, and ex-Confederate officer. It may be inter- 
esting to note that General Jordan, on his return to 
the United States, stated that with a nucleus of 
hardy and disciplined American soldiers he could 
gather an efficient army, which, properly armed, 
would drive the Spaniards into the sea in ninety 
days. 

The war continued with varied success; at one 
time fortune having of late been unfavorable to the 
insurrection, de Rodas thought that he had sup- 
pressed it, and returned to Spain. General Bal- 
maseda was then given full command of the army, 
and this time the Volunteers had indeed found a 
man who was ready to give them complete satis- 
faction, for it was Balmaseda, who already since 
the 4th of April, 1869, had issued the famous proc- 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 105 

lamation that every male over fifteen years of age 
found in the country away from his home without 
plausible reason should be shot, every house on 
which a white flag was not displayed should beburnt, 
and all women and children found alone on their 
farms should be removed by force to Bayamo or 
Jiguany. The Cubans retaliated in kind, and no 
quarter was given on either side. 

The mistake made by De Rodas was soon 
found out for the insurgents kept up a persistent 
guerrilla warfare, headed by Agramonte, Maximo 
Gomez, Sanguilly, Garcia, Maceo and others, until 
in 1873 they had regained all the territory which had 
been previously lost by them. In November of that 
year a real battle was fought at La Sacra, resulting 
in the defeat of the Spanish troops. Shortly after 
Maximo Gomez having routed a Spanish force 
composed of a thousand cavalry, eight battalions of 
infantry and several pieces of artillery advanced 
under Puerto Principe, and the cause of the insur- 
gents gained thereby considerable credit and ad- 
vantage. 



106 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

In 1874 General Jovellar whom the Spanish Re- 
public had sent as Captain General continued the 
reign of terror of his predecessors. All men be* 
tween twenty and forty-five years of age were 
forced into the militia, also one-tenth of those over 
•forty-five, and one slave out of every thousand was 
claimed for military labor. The Volunteers de- 
clared that the vigorous system would crush the 
Revolution in six months, while the insurgents 
felt equally sure and insisted that they would cap- 
ture Puerto Principe in six days; both were in 
error. At different times, a number of Spanish sol- 
diers deserted to the Cuban forces, and their fate 
whenever they happened to be captured was not 
doubtful. In 1875 the Captain General concen- 
trated all the troops which he disposed against 
Gomez and defeated him in several encounters. 

In order to meet the deficient budget and to pro- 
vide for the exigencies of the war the Authorities 
of Havana had, in October 1872, made a large in- 
crease of taxation. Every slave hired out had been 
taxed $24; the export duties and the war tax on 
Real Estate had been doubled, and the war tax on 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 107 

bankers and merchants, as well as the war tax on 
imported goods increased from ten to twenty-five 
per cent. In 1876 the Spanish government con- 
cluded a convention with Spanish Capitalists for an 
advance of five million dollars. 

General Martinez Campos was sent from Spain 
to take part in the operations in Cuba as Comman- 
der-in-Chief of the Army, in October, 1876. Later 
Jovellar was recalled and Martinez Campos placed 
in supreme military and civil command. 

Since 1877, the fortunes of the Insurgents had 
declined. Martinez Campos who, it is said, had 
been privately instructed by King Alfonso to make 
peace on any terms, adopted a more conciliatory 
policy towards the insurgents. He held out prom- 
ises of reform and of improvement in the economical 
and political conditions of the Island. Several in- 
fluential chiefs surrendered;, finally Gomez him- 
self laid down his arms, and peace was restored by 
the treaty of El Zanjon, in 1878. In August of that 
year, however, a new revolt broke out, as soon as 
the number of the Spanish troops had been de- 
creased. As it Was confined entirely to the colored 



108 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

population, and the whites held apart, it was soon 
defeated. 

The Spanish promises proved illusory. Constit- 
utional reform was the base. on which the insurgents 
had capitulated, and in fact Cuba was authorized to 
send Deputies to the Cortes, and Provincial Assem- 
blies were provided for, but the system of election 
and the regulations which were subsequently pro- 
mulgated by the Spanish government in that con- 
nection were such that, in substance, the Governor 
General still retained full power in his own hands. 
The Deputies to the Cortes could accomplish noth- 
ing, and Spain continued to control absolutely and 
for her own advantage, without regard for the in- 
terests or desires of the Cubans, the tariff, the taxes 
and in general the mode of raising and expending 
the revenue of the Island. The abolition of slavery 
was completed in 1886, but the political and econ- 
omical difficulties continued. As usual, Spain had 
not profited by her own experience or by that of 
other colonizing nations, and continued the same 
policy of injustice and spoliation towards the 
Cubans. 



CHAPTER X. 

The Ten Years' War in the United States— The Sentiment in 
1868— Cuban War News in 1869— The Wishes of General 
Grant— Resolutions That Were Not Adopted — The Fili' 
bustering Expeditions — The Brigs "Mary Lowell," 
and the "Lizzie Major" — The Promises of Spain -The 
"Virginius" Affair— How Spain Abused the Patience and 
Forbearance of the United States, 

The beginning of the ten years' war had found 
the general condition of things in the United States 
very different from what it had been at the time of 
the expeditions of Lopez and during the period 
which immediately followed it. An internal strife 
of great length and severity had taken place; the 
government of the country had passed into the 
hands of another party; slavery had been eliminated 
from our social system and the sympathy which the 
people of the American Union continued to feel, and 
manifested more clearly than ever, for the cause of 
Cuban liberty had been considerably purified from 
suspicious motives and influences. The general 
sentiment in this country when Cespedes took the 

(109) 



HO FOUR CENTURIES OF 

field was that Cuba should be delivered from all 
Spanish dominion; as to what was to become of it 
after it was freed, the sentiment was divided. It 
was held by some that it should be given existence 
as an independent state, and by others that it 
should be annexed to this country. The Editor of 
"Harper's Weekly" said, in the number for April 
10th, 1869, of that periodical, that there were at 
that time two Cuban parties in this country; "one 
wishing that Cuba might get its liberty, the other 
that we might get Cuban sugar. One, the party 
of Cuban independence, the other, of Cuban annex- 
ation;" but it should be remembered that that mag- 
azine was then and has been ever since, and even 
recently, persistently opposed to the annexation of 
Cuba to the United States, and although it has time 
and again felt compelled to protest vigorously 
against the outrages which were being committed 
in the Island, it has alwavs insisted on our main- 
taining a strict neutrality in the contest. 

New York was then, as well as recently, the head- 
quarters of the Cuban patriots, most of those who 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. Ill 

emigrated from Cuba since 1850 having sought 
refuge in this country. In fact the emigration to 
New York disturbed the authorities of Cuba to such 
an extent that, in 1869, they spread the rumor that 
New York was infested with small-pox in order to 
discourage further travel to that city. The reports 
which reached here from the seat of the revolution 
were often very puzzling to the public mind. The 
same periodical quoted above said, under date of 
May 15th, 1869: "The situation in Cuba at the 
present moment is one which it is almost impos- 
sible to comprehend. On the one side, taking the 
Cuban accounts, it would appear that the enthusi- 
asm of the rebels was never greater than it is now; 
while the Spanish statements which we read make 
the cause of the insurgents seem absolutely hope- 
less." These words have a strangely familiar 
sound to our ears, for they describe the same dis- 
crepancies in the news of the fight to which we have 
been accustomed during the present Cuban Revo- 
lution, and which Mr. Halstead with an extremely 
happy expression has called "an irrepressible con- 
flict of testimony." 



112 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

Among the wild rumors which were set afloat in 
the United States for partisan reasons during the 
course of the ten years' war, was one to- the effect 
that this country was to go to war agains't Spain in 
the interests of a third term for President Grant, for 
such a war would have been extremely popular and 
would have, increased the vote in his favor. 

General Grant was really very much inclined to 
favor the aspirations of the Cubans, but certainly 
not for the nonsensical reason which was for a 
moment absurdly .given in explanation of his views. 
He shared the traditions of the army, and as soon 
as the revolution broke out at Yara he wished to 
acknowledge the belligerency of the Insurgents and 
recognize the independence of the Island. General 
Rawlings, the Secretary of War, encouraged him in 
that direction, but he was opposed by Mr. Fish, 
then Secretary of State, and the influence of the 
latter finally prevailed in shaping the course of the 
President's policy, although his sympathies were not 
affected by it, for in 1875 Secretary Fish wrote to 
Mr. dishing, American Minister at Madrid, that 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. m 

the President regarded "independence and emanci- 
pation as the only certain and even necessary solu- 
tion of the Cuban question." In a message, in 1870, 
President Grant stated that he had made represen- 
tations to the Spanish government "for securing to 
the people of Cuba the blessings and the right of 
self-government." Again, in another message, in 
1876, he said that there was "no good reason either 
for acknowledging the independence of the insur- 
gents or their belligerency," but he added that the 
interests of the United States and of humanity de- 
manded the cessation of the strife. When Balma- 
seda issued his famous edict, Secretary Fish, in a 
letter to the American Minister at Madrid, pro- 
tested against "the infamous order of General, the 
Count of Balmaseda." 

Resolutions were many .times introduced in 
Congress in favor of the insurgents. In June, 
1870, General Banks and General Logan, in ardent 
appeals in behalf of the recognition of the Cubans 
as belligerents, declared that we were guilty of 
their slaughter and of the sacrifice of liberty 



114 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

in America if we did not interfere. General 
Banks said that the prayers of the people of this 
country for the success of the 'Cubans were well 
nigh universal. Mr. Sumner also offered resolu- 
tions declaring "the sympathy of the people of the 
United States with their fellow-Americans in Cuba/' 
and deploring the ferocity of Cuban warfare on 
both sides. Mr. Cox, of New York, in January, 
1872, introduced in the House of Representatives a 
resolution recognizing the independence of the 
Island, in consequence of eight students at Havana 
having been shot for a mere boyish freak; again, 
on December 27, 1873, he offered a resolution 
acknowledging the belligerency of the revolution- 
ists, but the House refused to consider it by a vote 
of 153 to 44. In fact all such resolutions always 
failed to pass either one or the other branch of 
Congress, or both, and very properly, since the 
independence of a country and the belligerency of 
those who endeavor to establish it are not to be 
acknowledged by other countries merely because it 
is a matter of right; the power to enforce that right 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 115 

must be shown, and the possession of an organiza- 
tion capable, not only nominally but in reality, of 
conducting effectively all the civil functions of a 
government must be proved to complete satisfac- 
tion. This the Cuban insurgents never could do, 
and consequently, notwithstanding our desire of 
helping their cause, their belligerency and the inde- 
pendence of the Island were never acknowledged. 

In the year 1873, an event occurred which be- 
cause of the interest which it excited in this country 
and of the results which it threatened to have de- 
serves to be related at some length. 

The government of this country having decided 
to remain neutral in the contest between Spain and 
her Colony made then, as it had during a previous 
period, and has since during the present revolution, 
all the efforts in its power to enforce the laws of 
neutrality, and these efforts were loyally and sin- 
cerely made, although Spain has never been capable 
of appreciating such loyalty and sincerity (1) and of 
understanding that any further action would have 
been contrary to the rights which the citizens of this 

(!) See note 5, page 203. 



116 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

country enjoy under its Constitution. However, it 
could not be expected — it was against the nature 
of things — that the American citizen, born to liberty 
and possessing an innate feeling of revolt against 
anything that may savor of political oppression, 
should view with indifference the unfair, unequal 
struggle which was taking place at the very doors 
of his land between a few thousand hungry and 
ragged men trying to secure their own rights and a 
nation possessing the resources, the wealth and the 
trained and well-armed forces of which Spain then 
disposed. The result was that notwithstanding the 
vigilance which the Administration exerted during 
the periods of all the different Cuban revolutions, it 
always found it impossible to prevent some of the 
citizens of this Union from giving now and then in 
their private capacity a substantial proof of their 
friendship for the Cuban rebels by furnishing them 
with recruits as well as with articles of clothing, 
food, arms, ammunition, etc. Besides, the Cuban 
refugees in this country were naturally active, as 
they had been in Lopez' time, and as they have been 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 117 

recently, in organizing such assistance in the shape 
of filibustering expeditions. 

Many vessels were occasionally engaged in se- 
cretly taking men and merchandise to appropriate 
spots on the Cuban coast and had been the source 
of much trouble between the United States and 
Spain, on account of the arbitrary action of the 
Spanish authorities. In 1869, the "Mary Lowell," an 
American brig loaded with arms put into a port 
in the Bahamas and while there was seized by a 
Spanish man-of-war and taken to Havana, in spite 
of the protests of the British authorities in that port 
who were, at that time, unable to enforce such pro- 
tests and prevent the outrage. Again, on another 
occasion, passengers were taken from an American 
vessel, the brig "Lizzie Major," and -impris- 
oned. Secretary Fish told the Spanish Minister in 
Washington that the prisoners should be released 
and an apology and indemnity and ample reparation 
of every kind offered, and the Minister answered 
that Spain would undoubtedly give satisfaction. 
There was some delay in hearing from the Spanish 



118 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

government; Mr. Fish having sent again for the 
Minister, suggested to him that such delay was 
very dangerous, and it was onjy on being almost 
forced to the wall that Spain acceded to our de- 
mands. General Dulce had issued a proclamation 
that all vessels with arms and ammunition on board 
should be treated as pirates; Mr. Fish told the 
Spanish Minister that this order was a violation of 
recognized international right, and upon represen- 
tations to Madrid the Spanish government disa- 
vowed the proclamation, but how sincere and effec- 
tive was that disavowal will soon be seen. 

In October, 1873, the "Virginius," a little, 
wooden, side-wheeled steamer, with a crew of fifty- 
two men sailed from Kingston, Jamaica, bound for 
Lemon Bay. Twelve of the crew were of American 
citizenship, the others being subjects of England 
and of other countries. Captain Joseph Fry, who 
was in command of the vessel, was a son of Major 
Fry of the United States Army, who died in Flor- 
ida during the Seminole Indian war; he had gradu- 
ated as a passed midshipman from the school at 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 119 

Annapolis in 1842. In 1847 he had fought a duel 
with Midshipman Brown of Mississippi, but after 
drawing his antagonist's fire he had generously re- 
fused to return it. He had served for many years 
before the war, and when Louisiana seceded he had 
thrown up his lieutenant's commission and entered 
the Confederate Army. The record of his whole 
life was good. 

The owner of the Virginius was Joseph W. Pat- 
terson of New Orleans, who is said to have been an 
agent of the Cuban insurgents, and had been able 
to obtain papers for his vessel from that port. Be- 
sides the crew, the vessel carried 113 passengers, 
many but not all of whom were citizens of this 
country, and it was stated on good authority that 
many of them were, bound on a business or pleasure 
trip and were entirely ignorant of the fact that the 
Virginius was or had been engaged in carrying 
arms and ammunition to the revolutionists in Cuba. 
While the vessel was on the high seas, on the 1st 
of November, it was seized by the Spanish gunboat 
Tornado, and taken to Santiago. It is interesting 



»»-»^ ,>. ...-r.* 



120 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

to note that both the Virginius and the Tornado 
had been built by the same firm of ship builders for 
blockade runners, but the Tornado proved much the 
better boat at the time of the capture, for the hull and 
machinery of the Virginius were extremely dirty and 
in otherwise poor condition. The action of the Span- 
ish authorities was in many ways illegal, one of the 
reasons for which it was unwarranted by interna- 
tional laws being that the seizure was executed 
outside of the three mile from shore limit pre- 
scribed in such cases. It took four days for the 
Tornado to bring its prize into the harbor of San- 
tiago and the distance at which the Virginius was 
from the Cuban coast when it was captured may be 
guessed from this; but the Spanish authorities en- 
tirely disregarded the fact that in time of peace a 
vessel of any nation is subject, on the high seas, 
only to the police jurisdiction of the power from 
which it receives its papers. It is not denied that 
the Virginius had arms on board; but none were 
found on it at the time that she was captured as they 
had been thrown overboard when the cruiser had 
been sighted. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 121 

On November 4th, as soon as both vessels had 
arrived at Santiago, the prisoners were given the 
mockery of a trial before a drum head court mar- 
tial. All treaty obligations, all regulations were set 
aside and ignored; there was no evidence against 
the prisoners, still they were all found guilty and 
sentenced to death. 

This did not happen under a Monarch or a 
crowned despot, it happened under a Republic, for 
the Captain General then represented in Cuba the 
Spanish Republic of which Emilio Castelar became 
President. It was rumored that the execution had 
been countermanded, and the Volunteers declared 
in their organ, published in Havana, that "the Cap- 
tain General would not dare to issue such an absurd 
order as an arrest of the Santiago executions." 

On the same day on which that travesty on a trial 
had taken place, the day on which the Tornado 
and Virginius had arrived at Santiago, the 4th of 
November, those of the prisoners who were of 
Cuban birth, and one of the Americans, were killed. 
General Burriel, who directed the proceedings, in 



122 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

a letter of that date to the Captain General in- 
formed him that the persons whom he named in the 
letter had been shot "for being traitors to their 
country, and for being insurgent chiefs." 

On the 7th of the same month, the Captain and 
crew of the Virginius were taken to the shooting- 
place, which was very appropriately named "the 
slaughter-house," and they were shot. Fry before 
the execution wrote a letter to his wife, a most 
touching and pathetic document, in which he said 
"There is to be a fearful sacrifice of life on the 
Virginius, and as I think, a needless one, as the 
poor people are unconscious of crime, and even of 
their fate up to now. I hope God will forgive me if 
I am to blame for it." It has been said that some 
of the crew of the Virginius had been forced on 
board against their will. Fifty-three men were 
killed in all in the two executions. Fry was mag- 
nanimously given the privilege of walking down the 
lines of his companions and bidding them adieu, 
before he was himself shot. 

There still remained under sentence of death 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 123 




124 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

ninety-three men belonging to the passenger list of 
the Virginius, but at this juncture matters took an 
unexpected and unwelcome turn for the Spaniards. 
Commodore de Horsey, in charge of the British 
Navy in the West Indies, was at Port Royal, and 
on hearing of the outrage he immediately dis- 
patched the "Niobe," a British steamer then at 
Jamaica, under the command of Captain Sir Lamp- 
ton Lorraine to Santiago. The Niobe started at 
full speed and on arriving in that harbor the Captain, 
who was landed even before his ship was anchored, 
demanded that the wholesale assassination which 
was taking place should be stopped, and his firmness 
and energy prevented the accomplishment of the 
other murders which had been contemplated. The 
American warship "Wyoming" soon after steamed 
into Santiago, and later the "Juniata," and the guns 
of both the English and the American vessels in- 
spired the Spanish with such respect that they de- 
sisted from their purpose. 

On hearing of the executions, Secretary Fish 
cabled to General Sickles, American Minister at 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 125 

Madrid, to protest "in the name of this government 
and of civilization and humanity against the act as 
brutal, barbarous and an outrage upon the age," 
and to ask for amp'le reparation. Sickles, in ac- 
knowledging receipt of the cablegram, stated that 
having presented the protest to the Spanish minister 
of state the latter had rejected it by an ill-tempered 
note saying that "Spain would nevertheless consider 
and decide questions according to law and her dig- 
nity." Afterwards the Spanish Minister claimed that 
as soon as he had received the news from Cuba he 
had cabled to stop the executions, but we have seen 
the real reason which caused their discontinuance. 
On November 23d, General Sickles was on the 
verge of closing the Legation and leaving the prop- 
erty in charge of the Italian Minister, but the Span- 
ish diplomats succeeded in quieting matters. The 
Virginius and the surviving passengers were turned 
over to the United States, but the correspondence 
in regard 'to the reparation dragged on for years. 
Spain accused the vessel of being a pirate, claiming 
that her papers were fraudulent, and her American 



126 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

nationality not established; President Grant stated 
in a message to Congress, in January 1874, that if 
her papers were irregular the Virginius had com- 
mitted an offense against the United States, who 
alone had the right to interfere and to punish. 
Finally a settlement was made by which Spain 
agreed to give a salute to our flag unless she could 
prove to our satisfaction that the American flag was 
improperly borne by the Virginius; this had all 
along been the contention of Spain, but our answer 
to it was that even if such were the case and admit- 
ting that the American papers of the Virginius 
were fraudulent, the only authority competent to 
judge of the validity of such papers was the one from 
which they claimed to emanate. General Sickles 
stated that the Spanish government had agreed to 
accept a declaration made by him as proof of the 
American nationality of the vessel. Nevertheless 
the salute to the American flag was not given, al- 
though Spain could never satisfy us of the truth 
of her version, and she got out of the difficulty by 
the payment of a paltry sum of $80,000 to the heirs 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 127 

of the victims, which had been agreed upon. She 
promised to prosecute Burriel, but never did it. (1) 
Mr. Cox, of New York, declared in the House of 
Representatives that Congress was "pusillanimous 
and without the courage to kill a mouse, and that 
the diplomacy of the government had draggled the 
flag of the country in the dust," but he was rebuked 
by Mr. Beck of Kentucky and by General Hawley 
who sustained the Administration. The greatest 
excitement prevailed among the people against Sec- 
retary Fish, and meetings against him were held in 
New York. 

Thus, Spanish diplomacy had obtained another 
triumph over the patience and forbearance of the 
United States, but if the case of the Black Warrior 
had been forgotten, the murder of the crew of the 
Virginius left in the ashes of the past some smol- 
dering embers, which Spain might eventually find 
exceedingly dangerous to fan into new life. 



C 1 ) As late as the 23d of April 1877, it was said in the British House 
of Commons that Spain had promised to try General Burriel, of the 
Virginius massacre notoriety, but that the trial had been delayed "on 
account of the non-receipt of papers from Cuba," 



CHAPTER XL 

The Ten Years' War in. Spain — Hopes That Were in 
Vain — King 1 Amadeus, His Influence and His 
Abdication — A Modern Gicero — Emilio Castelar 
and the Genius cf Spain. 

When the government of Isabella had been upset, 
the hope was manifested in this country that while 
the old Spanish rule had been tyrannical, since it 
had been thrown off Spain, the new rule would prove 
less harsh. It was confidently expected that the 
humane and generous spirit which Castelar was sup- 
posed to' represent would not continue to* oppress 
the Cubans, or prolong the ferocities of past Span- 
ish warfare. 

Subsequent events, however, have given plentiful 
evidence that Spanish governments may come and 
go but the tyranny in Cuba will go on forever — until 
it is stopped by an iron hand. 

The only faint ray of light in the Spanish political 
sky appeared during the reign of King Amadeus. 
Had he been able to bring Spanish public opinion to 
his own views, which were the outcome of a differ- 

(128) 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 



129 




^OL gjg^ 



I fMffM^^^^tfiM 



130 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

ent way of thinking, befitting the people and the 
family to which he belonged, in that case most likely 
the situation of the Cubans would have improved; 
but he could not do it; it would have required a 
reformation of the whole, Spanish character. After a 
short trial, during the course of which he came near 
losing his life, he gave up the job and the throne in 
indignation and disgust. The son of Victor Eman- 
uel, of a man possessed of an honesty and a good, 
sound common sense rarely to be found in a king/ 1 * 
himself a member of a nation which is such a leader 
in civilization that a few years later it was to strike 
out the death penalty from its statute-books, Ama- 
deus perforce felt out of place amid such surround- 
ings. 

It was, however, through his influence that the 
only genuine reform that Spain ever granted Cuba 
was effected. A code of rules enforcing the aboli- 
tion of slavery in Cuba and Porto Rico was pub- 
lished by a decree of King Amadeus in 1872. The 
Cortes had indeed passed as early as 1869 an ordi- 
nance making preparations for the emancipation of 

(i) See note 6, pago 203. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 131 

the slaves in the Spanish Colonies, but it may safely 
be asserted that had it not been for the pressure ex- 
erted by that Italian the good measure would have 
gone the way of all other Spanish promises of re- 
form, that is, it would have fallen into "innocuous 
desuetude." For the second time in her history 
Spain had become indebted to Italy. 

It must be acknowledged that Amadeus was ably 
seconded in his efforts in that direction by Emilio 
Castelar. 

In a speech in the Cortes, before the abdication 
of Amadeus, on the abolition of slavery in Cuba and 
Porto Rico, Castelar insisted on the "indissolubil- 
ity of the union between Spain and her Colonies," 
but he added these most eloquent words: "To-day 
is the last day of old Spain, crushing in her fall the 
fetters of the slave, and the birthday of that other 
Spain that by means of her ideas unites herself in- 
dissolubly with the America of freedom, of democ- 
racy and of right." 

His speech was a poem, an ode. to progress and 
liberty. 



132 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

"If Spain, gentlemen," Castelar cried, "if Spain 
is to be made up of arbitrary generals, greedy bu- 
reaucrats, selfish tax-gatherers, censors who stifle 
human thought, unbridled hosts massacring chil- 
dren, the slave-trafficker's bark, the Babylon of the 
plantation, and to crown all this the bazaar and the 
slave-market — ah! then, arise with me and cry: 
Accursed be the genius of our country!" 

Is it possible that the man whose voice mani- 
fested such noble sentiments, to which the har- 
monious Castillian language gave added enchant- 
ment, should now be cursing the genius of a coun- 
try which will soon accomplish all the reforms 
which he was begging the Spanish people to be- 
stow? Can this be the same Castelar who twenty- 
five years after wrote that the Spanish government 
"could not learn from outsiders its faults in govern- 
ing the Antilles, or submit to a mediator"? Alas! 
the principle of the indissolubility of the union be- 
tween Spain and her Colonies had stifled in him the 
higher principles which lie had expressed in 1873. 
The new Spain was never born, or else it was a 
still-birth, and the Republic which was established 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 133 

after the abdication of Amadeus did not accomplish 
the good which had been expected of it. Spain 
instead of uniting herself to the America of freedom, 
of democracy and of right, persisted in her attach- 
ment to the Cuba of tyranny, of despotism and of 
wrong. 

Here is a sample of the comfort which the Cubans 
derived from the establishment of the Republic in 
Spain: "The Spanish government sends salutations 
to Cuba and Porto Rico, and assures them that the 
integrity of Spanish territory is .to be maintained." 

This message proved undoubtedly highly pleas- 
ing to the Peninsulars and the Volunteers, but with 
what enthusiasm the Insular Cubans received the 
greetings and the magnanimous assurance which 
they contained, history does not say. 

The genius of Spain, of which Castelar spoke in 
1873, has had the good luck of being led by the 
genius of a Genoese sailor to the discovery of a new 
world; it has slaughtered the people that it found 
there, then instead of being satisfied with the indi- 
rect profits which might reasonably have accrued 
from a proper administration of Colonial posses- 



134 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

sions, it has killed the hen that laid the golden eggs. 

The genius of Spain is still the genius of Philip 
II. and of the Duke of Alva; which gave to the 
world Torquemada and the Inquisition, which laid 
bare the Low Countries, and tortured and murdered 
their noble citizens. 

The genius of Spain has exercised a most demor- 
alizing influence over that portion of Italy to which 
it has chiefly extended its operations. (1 > 

The genius of Spain has practically annihilated 

one of the most beautiful spots in the world; the 

Cubans were begging for bread, it has answered 

their supplications by giving them a stone; it has 

garroted or otherwise murdered with the semblance 

of a legal process, during the space of five years 

only, four thousand six hundred and seventy-two 

of the inhabitants of Cuba, the offspring of Spanish 
blood. 

And it may be suggested that it is now time for 
the genius of Spain to take a back seat. 

It is reported that ex-Premier Crispi, of Italy, 
said that the present war is the end of Spain, and 
if he did, he spoke the truth, 

(i) See note 7A, page 205. 



CHAPTER XII. 

The Golden Book of Cuba — The Execution of Leon and 
Medina — The Treachery of General Mena — A Dis- 
tinction With a Difference — Two Cuban and One 
Italian Poets. 

For an idea of what the crimes of Spain 
have been during the period of the ten years' war 
we must take up the examination of a book to which 
reference is made by Mr. Halstead in his "Story of 
Cuba." It is called the "Book of Blood" and was 
published in 1873, after the war which began in 
1868 had run only one-half of its course. It is a 
record, not indeed of all the Cuban patriots who 
have been murdered by Spain, which it were im- 
possible to establish, but merely of those who have 
been "executed," during those five years, after the 
humbug of a trial and with a pretense of legality. 
"We do not claim," says the preface, "we do not 
claim to give a table of the crimes committed in 
Havana and elsewhere, such for example as those 
at the theatre of Villanueva, the coffee-house of the 

(135) 



136 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

Louvre * * * the butchery of Cohner Green- 
wald and many like cases; or the transcendentally 
treacherous killing of Augusto Arango under a flag 
of truce. Neither shall we attempt to catalogue the 
murders committed by the brutal soldiery in the 
country, the indiscriminate slaughter of defenceless 
men, women and children, the rapes, the obscene 
mutilations and the cruelties of every kind perpe- 
trated in our unhappy country by the scourge of 
America; those are personal crimes which we do not 
deem just to charge upon a whole people.'' 

The "Book of Blood" shows that during the gov 
ernments of General Lersundi, Dulce, De Rodaa 
Ceballos, Pieltain and Jovellar, the last three repre 
senting the Spanish Republic, four thousand si? 
hundred and seventy-two' political prisoners havo 
been killed by the "garrote vil" or by shooting. 
The names of the victims, as far as it has been pos- 
sible to ascertain them, are given, also the date of 
arrest, and the date and place of execution. Here 
are a few of the entries in that book of Spanish in^ 
famv, taken at random. 



* 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 137 

1870-Dec. 17-Porto Principe— Capt. Francisco Betan- 1,934 
court, Emilio Estrada , Carlos Torres, 
Jose Molina, Francisco Benavides, 
Mannel Montojo y Caballero, Janvier 
B. Varona, Martin Loynazy Miranda, 8-Died Jan. 1, 71 

1871-Feb. 26-Juan Sanchez— M. Perdomo and S. Mila, 
A. Paredes, E. Rivero, J. B. Agra- 
monte, J. Martinez, P. Ibarra, B. 
Leiva, and F. Echmendia, . . . 9-Died Mar. 12. 

1871-Feb. 21-La Vega— Jose Manuel Quesada (75 years 
old) for the crime of Leing uncle to 
General Quesada, 1-Died April 1. 

1873-Nov. 8-Santiago — Arturo Loret Mola, Augus- 
tin Varona, Oscar Varona, Guil- 
lermo Vals, Jose Boitel, Salvador 
Penedo, Enrique Castellanos, Augus- 
tin Santa Rosa, Justo Consuegra, 
Francisco Porras Pita, Jose Otero, 
Herminio Quesada, 12-Died Nov. 15. 

One item gives • the names of fifty-five victims, 
among them Cespedes and Manuel Quesada; an- 
other one gives nineteen names. 

The "Book of Blood" will become in future years 
the Golden Book of Cuba; a roll of honor, which 
the American citizen of the State of Santiago or of 
Pinar del Rio will anxiously scan for the names of 
his ancestors who distinguished themselves in the 
fight for liberty; he may not find them, perhaps, for 
he will come across items like these: 

1870-Dec. 1-Gibara— One who smelt as a rebel, . . 1-Died Dec. 18. 

1870-Nov. 27-Siguanea— Alejo Contero, Felix Yuru- 

bide, and thirteen more, .... 15-Died Dec. 18. 



138 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

1870- Dec. 31-Guanaja— Seven prisoners captured with 

the wife of President Sespedes, . 7-Died Jan. 14. 

1871-Feb. 15-Ciego— A rebel, 1-Died Mar. 1. 

1871-Feb. 19-Sancti Espiritu— A postman, .... 1-Died Mar. 1. 
1871-Feb. 23- Guaramen a -Seventeen rebels, . . . 17-DiedMar.l7. 

Among the victims at Havana in 1869 were two 
men, one named Leon, the other Medina, who had 
been sentenced to death for secreting arms. There 
was an immense crowd to witness the execution, 
and many among it sympathized with the patriot 
cause. When Leon reached the scaffold lie deter- 
mined to speak, in spite of an attempt made by the 
priest to dissuade him. In order to gain a hearing 
he cried out "Viva Espaiia!" (Hurrah for Spain!) 
which was responded by the huzzas of the Volun- 
teers. He then went on to denounce in a few brief 
words the tyranny which had condemned him, and 
finished his speech with enthusiastic "Vivas" for 
Cuba, independence and Cespedes! The drummers 
were so astonished that they forgot to drown the 
remarks with the noise of their drums, as they had 
been ordered to do in case seditious words were 
spoken. The soldiers had answered with cheers 
the first words of the prisoner, but his last ones 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 



139 







— , — , — - — 



140 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

called forth a tumultuous response from the Cubans. 
In their wrath the Volunteers turned upon the 
crowd and fired, killing or wounding many people. 
Mr. Hall, the American Consul, had made efforts 
to prevent the execution, but had been unsuc- 
cessful. 

In January, 1869, General Augusto Arango went 
as a parliamentary under the protection of a flag of 
truce into the Spanish lines. The Spanish general, 
Mena, caused him to be shot, then had the body 
cut to pieces and the fragments paraded through 
the streets of Puerto Principe. 

Heine C 1 )- 

"* * * * a German poet 
Of goodly German fame," 

as he took pride in being, once in a fit of misan- 
thropy laid down the following maxim: "Yes, we 
ought to forgive our enemies — but not until they 
are hanged." 

The American soldiers and statesmen have done 
better, and have acted more in accordance with the 
true and original principles of Christianity; they 

(i) See note 7, page 204. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 141 

have pardoned without hanging. The Spanish 
have done, worse; they have hanged without par- 
doning, for they have butchered the bodies of their 
enemies after life was extinct. Heine said that he 
would, before their death, forgive his enemies the 
injuries they had done him during their lives, but 
Spain did not forgive her enemies even after death, 
and this did not happen in the fifteenth or sixteenth 
century, but in our present enlightened age, within 
the sight of some of us who are not very old yet. 
The trouble with her is that she has not yet under- 
stood that the people whom she has misgoverned 
may wish to renounce her authority without being 
necessarily worse than Judas Iscariot. In her eyes, 
one of her colonists who refuses to acknowledge 
her dominion is guilty of a crime deserving the most 
painful death which the body can suffer, in this 
world, and the eternal burning of the soul in hell, 
in the next. 

Among the Cuban patriots whose life was de- 
stroyed by Spain during the course of the ten years' 
war was one of the most noted American poets of 



142 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

Spanish lineage. Marco Antonio Canini— the 
father of the writer of this study — in his work 
"II Libro dell'Amore"— The Book of Love— (1 >(a 
collection of love poetry of all nations and all times, 
translated by him from the originals in nearly one 
hundred and fifty languages into Italian verse) 
wrote asfoilovvs in the critical and philological essay 
preceding the third volume of that work, pub- 
lished in Venice in 1888: "Among the other 
Hispano-American songs I recommend above all, 
those of the Cuban Zenea, whose life has been ex- 
tinguished by Spain, who is as unforeseeing and 
unjust in the administration of her Colonies as she 
is cruel in repressing the attempts at independence. 
Placido Valdes was another Cuban poet murdered 
by Spain and I will give some of his verses else- 
where; the first one of those unhappy men ad- 
dressed his last verses to his wife, the second to his 
mother." 



(i) See note 8, page 205. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 



143 




The King and Queen Regent of Spain. 

See note 11, page 207. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Public Opinion Abroad — The Forests of Boyal Palms 
Between New York and Washington — The Congres- 
sional Express — A Bouquet of Flowers Prom the 
Paris Figaro— Ignorance and Vitriol — -How a Great 
Nation is Being Deceived. 

Those words of the old Italian patriot and poet 
have been reported here not only on account of the 
interesting information which they contain in con- 
nection with the scope of this study, but also for 
the purpose of pointing out that public opinion in 
most European countries is not, as many suppose, 
against us in our present conflict; England and 
Italy/ X) for instance, would not seem to be easily able 
to find in their history any reason for being particu- 
larly friendly to Spain, and there can be only one 
opinion among liberal-minded and well-informed 
people the world over as to the justice of our 
cause, only one hope as to the result, and that for 
its inevitable success. The holders of Spanish 
bonds and their advocates are, of course, excluded 
from the limits of this assertion. 

(i) See note 12, page 208. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 145 

But the trouble, is that a large number of people 
in Europe entertain some extraordinary ideas in 
regard to our customs, our habits and things in 
general in this country, and through lack of proper 
information about the condition of affairs in the 
United States, and especially in respect to the 
Cuban question, are induced to direct their sym- 
pathies into the wrong channel. 

A short while ag'o there appeared in the Paris 
"Figaro," a prominent but hardly respected news- 
paper, noted for its famous canards, what pur- 
ported to be "The Impressions of a Parisian in the 
United States." This particular bird began its 
flight on the 30th of March, continued it on the 1st 
of April, and concluded it on the 5th of that month. 
Whether it was intended by the "Figaro" as a 
present to its readers with the compliments of the 
season, I do not know, but in that case the pere- 
grination through three issues of the paper was a 
little too long. The writer spent two weeks in the 
United States; he went from New York to Wash- 
ington for the purpose of interviewing President 



146 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

McKinley, and we will allow him to speak for him- 
self. 

"I leave New York on an icy cold morning, and 
little by little the temperature becomes milder, the 
thermometer rises — it is spring, soon it is summer, 
At first forests of pines, then forests of. palm trees. 
— In Washington the thermometer showed 96 in the 
shade. — Wonderful landscapes where practical life 
never loses its rights. Here and there suspended 
from the palm trees, along the road, large sign- 
boards with advertisements of the best soap or 
of the best shoe-blacking." 

On arriving in Washington he feels disappointed: 
"At the depot in Washington, instead of the grace- 
ful American girls whom I expected to see, my 
sight meets only fat and horrible negresses, attired 
in bloomers, lazily leaning on their wheel." 

This is the impression which he will take back to 
Paris of the Capital of the United States: 

"A queer city * * * the impression that we 
are in the tropics becomes stronger at the sight of 
so many negroes; they form here the majority of the 
population." 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 147 

But he hurries to the White House: 
"I go in as in a public square, and I see neither 
guardians nor servants — not even a janitor. In 
the vestibule a sign-board with this mention, end the 
drawing of a hand pointing in the proper direction, 
'Entrance to the Parlor.' " 

When he reaches the President he has a very 
pleasant conversation with him. The President is 
at first a little restive about talking on the Cuban 
question, but finally he becomes more communica- 
tive. He may, for all we know, have been on the 
point of asking that bright young man for his 
opinion and advice, but the reporter is compelled to 
leave in haste, which is extremely unfortunate for 
us, as he might have been of great assistance to 
the President in guiding him through the difficulties 
which were soon to follow. His hurry was caused 
by the fact that he had been successful in obtaining 
a "special permit" which allowed him to take the 
"Congressional Express," and he did not want to 
miss it. The Congressional Express, we are in- 
formed, is a train which takes back to New York 



148 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

the members of Congress after the day is over, for 
very few of them live in Washington. 

That enterprisingrepresentative of a still more en- 
terprising newspaper had probably picked up some- 
where on the boulevards an advertisement of the 
Pennsylvania Railroad, but he did not know that 
the. only permit required in order to travel on the 
Congressional Express is the possession of one of 
those little slips of green paper which are so care- 
fully marked with a V or an X at the Department 
of the Treasury in that same city of Washington 
which he claims to have visited; and while those 
permits are entirely too scarce to suit most of us 
they are not particularly "special." 

When he got back to New York "bands of ex- 
cited individuals" were running through the streets 
yelling, "Death to the Spaniards!" "It was enough 
for any one to state that he was a Cuban citizen 
in order to be walked about from saloon to saloon, 
and compelled to swallow cocktails without num- 
ber." By such indications New York will soon be 
empty of New Yorkers, only Cubans will be found 
in that city. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. U9 

The whole' thing was evidently intended for a 
hoax, and it was a display of cheap wit. The re- 
porters of the "Figaro" did not always find the ves- 
tibule to the White House entirely deserted, for that 
paper stated — and this time quite seriously — that 
the Officer who took to the President the report of 
the Board of Inquiry on the Maine had, on enter- 
ing the White House, to make his way, "revolver 
in hand, through a crowd of idlers." C 1 ) 

It was the "Figaro," if I am not mistaken, which 
years ago, when the Republican party was divided 
into two camps, the Stalwarts and the Half Breeds, 
explained to its readers that the latter were "the 
great cattle-raisers of the West," having most likely 
been misled by a literal application of the word 
"breeding." 

But the blunders of the "Figaro" and other Euro- 
pean newspapers are not always so innocent. Here 
are some samples of the literature on which intelli- 
gent people in Europe are expected to base their 
opinion with regard to the attitude of the United 



* (i) Le Figaro, March 27, 1898. 



150 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

States on the Cuban question; the four that follow 
are taken from different issues of the same paper. 

"The Spaniards are wise, they have proved it, 
and nothing shows that they will play into the hands 
of unscrupulous men who speculate on their chival- 
rous sentiments." 

"One may conceive a war aiming at the triumph 
of intangible principles, or of commercial interests 
of the greatest importance, but it cannot be con- 
ceived in order to facilitate speculations on the sale 

of tobacco, of sugar or of poor American news- 
papers." 

"The American jingoes — Senators engaged in 
speculations in sugar and in tobacco, Representa- 
tives who wish to flatter the unconscious mob, mem- 
bers of Cuban insurrectional committees composed 
of buyers at a trifling price of lands devastated by 
the civil war, continue in Washington and New 
York their campaign of excitation and of slander." 

"It is the entire archipelago of the West Indies 
that they are hungry for.'^ 1 ) 

Another prominent Parisian newspaper, "La 

(i) See note 8, page 206. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 151 

Paix"— "The Peace'— under date of April 30th, 
has an article which begins by praising Cuba for 
"struggling desperately against the tyrannical dom- 
ination of bigoted and retrograde Spain." "Europe," 
says the editor, "should have intervened long ago 
in behalf of Cuba agonizing under the bloody rule 
of Spain. But it seems that under the same pretext 
of respect for international law, or I know not what 
stupid protocol, the powers have been content to 
witness that barbarous struggle between Spain and 
Cuba." Here, however, the talented editor turns 
the search-light of his investigation on this be- 
nighted country: "As to one point there can be no 
doubt," continues the writer in "La Paix," "the 
intervention of the United States in Cuban affairs 
is justified by no international code.' , 

In other words, Europe (3,000 miles away or over) 
should have intervened in Cuba and would have 
been justified by international law, for it was only 
under a pretext of respect for it that she has not 
done it. In the case of the United States (100 miles 
from the Cuban coast or thereabouts), however, in- 



152 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

tervention is decidedly contrary to that same law. 
Europe is to be blamed for not interfering on ac- 
count of some stupid protocol, but that same stupid 
protocol should inspire us with veneration and with 
awe. The why and wherefore of all this constitute 
a problem which my mind cannot solve, and the 
reader may, if he likes, figure it out for himself; but 
from a superficial examination it would seem that 
'The Peace" is at war — with common sense. 

Our friend, the editor of "La Paix," then con- 
tinues to pay his respects to the United States, and 
delivers himself of the following tirade, which the 
Chicago "Inter-Ocean" of May 8th, where it is re- 
ported, properly characterizes as ignorant and vit- 
riolic: "If civilized Europe had been mindful of 
her duty and her dignity, if she had been moved by 
conscience and self-interest, she would long ago 
have forced the United States to take her ships 
from Cuban ports and would have imposed peace 
on the combatants. As for the United States no 
scruples of conscience embarrass that nation of 
brigands. The Yankees care nothing for the inter- 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 153 

est and dignity of civilization. It amuses them to 
talk of Christian civilization, but the prime motive 
behind their declaration of war is the desire to ac- 
quire Cuba and become the foremost producers of 
sugar. The least discerning have been struck by 
the mixture of hypocrisy and brutality which char- 
acterizes the diplomatic and military action of the 
United States/' 

The least discerning would be struck by the 
fact that to characterize the noble and dignified 
efforts of President McKinley to maintain the peace 
as hypocrisy, and the firm action which necessarily 
followed their failure, as brutality, is to make a re- 
markable display of asininity. The editor of "La 
Paix" is mistaken; it does not amuse the Yankees 
to talk of Christian civilization; what amuses them 
to the point of extravagant hilarity is to listen to the 
aberrant and discrepant jabber of a man who knows 
as much about their affairs and their history as 
Christopher Columbus knew about those of the 
Great Khan of the Indies, whose acquaintance he 
expected to make when he first landed in Cuba. 



154 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

That is, it would amuse them, were it not for the 
fact that it is on such rot that the opinion of an in- 
telligent, a great and generous people like the 
French nation, is being formed, and that that nation 
is thus induced to attribute to us motives and pur- 
poses which are as far removed from our minds as 
the shores of France are geographically distant 
from those of Columbia. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 



155 




Ex'mo Sr. Don Praxedes Mateo Sagasta, 

President of the Spanish Cabinet. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The Situation in Cuba After the Peace of El Zanjon — 
Outbreak of the Present Revolution— Jose Marti, 
His Work, His Death and His Burial — How Matters 
Stood in Cuba in April, 1898 — The Brilliant Ideas 
of General Weyler — Why Autonomy is Wot Accept- 
able. 

The reforms which had been granted by the 
Treaty of El Zanjon had, as we have seen, proved 
entirely delusive. The same state of affairs pre- 
vailed in Cuba after Gomez and the other leaders of 
the ten years' war had been induced to capitulate, 
as had existed for four hundred years previously, 
with the single exception of the condition of slavery. 
The despotic policy called the policy of the 
"Realidad national" was continued; the representa- 
tion of Cuba in the Cortes was useless, because the 
votes of the Cuban deputies were not allowed to 
count in matters of importance, besides the Penin- 
sulars were able to control the polls, and all but a 
few of the deputies were natives of Spain; the gov- 
ernors still enjoyed the same absolute power. In- 

(156) 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 157 

dustry was discouraged, for it would have interfered 
with the interests of the Spanish manufacturing cit- 
ies. The. taxes were as heavy, or heavier, than ever 
and they were still applied to the benefit of the 
mother country. No intention was shown of giving 
the Cubans the part that properly belonged to them 
in the administration of their island; that admin- 
istration continued to be as corrupt as it had. ever 
been and the secret exactions of its officials were 
still based on the idea of making as much money 
as possible before returning to Spain. As an ex- 
ample of its operations I will quote the following 
lines from the Introduction by Mr. John Fiske to 
Mr. Grover Flint's book "Marching with Gomez:" 
"A planter's estate is entered upon the assessor's 
lists as worth $50,000; the collector comes along 
and demands a tax based upon an assumed value of 
$70,000; the planter demurs, but presently thinks it 
prudent to compromise upon a basis of $00,000. 
No change is made in the published lists, but the 
collector slips into his own pocket the tax upon 
$1.0,000 and goes away rejoicing. Thus the planter 



158 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

is robbed while the government is cheated. And 
this is a fair specimen of what goes on throughout 
all departments of administration. From end to 
end the whole system is honeycombed with 
fraud." 

It is related by Mathurin M. Ballou in his book 
"Due South," published in 1885, that within recent 
years an issue of Cuban currency having been 
authorized by the Madrid government to be printed 
in an establishment in the United States, the Cuban 
officials had notes to the extent of fourteen million 
dollars printed over and above, the authorized 
amount, and shared that sum among themselves. 
It is not surprising to hear thai the Captain-Gen- 
eral, a worthy successor of ihe r< sidenciado gov- 
ernors of the sixteenth century and of General 
Tacon, who was a poor man when he landed in 
Cuba, returned to Spain several times a millionaire. 

Such conditions, and those produced by the un- 
fair laws regulating foreign commerce, could not 
fail to result in the utter ruination of the economical 
interests of the Island. In fact, the insurrection 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 159 

which was shortly to follow may be said to be due 
principally to a necessity for economic relief, rather 
than to the desire for political liberty which accom- 
panied it. In 1890,' addresses were sent to the 
home government by the majority of the agricul- 
tural and other associations of the island, stating- 
their grievances and asking for certain remedies; 
later a delegation was sent to Madrid, but all the 
efforts made, by the Insular Cubans to obtain an 
amelioration of their condition came to nothing- 
Spain continued to turn a deaf ear to their pro- 
tests; in fact the evils were rather aggravated than 
otherwise. 

Thus, the Insulars were, brought to rebel another 
time against their iniquitous mother country, and 
took up again the arms which they had been in- 
duced to lay down in 1878 by her lying promises. 

The cry of "Cuba libre!" (free Cuba) was raised 
by a band of about thirty men under the leadership 
of Antonio Lopez Coloma, in the neighborhood of 
Ibarra, province of Matanzas, on the 24th of Feb- 
ruary, 1895, and on the same day an uprising took 



160 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

place in Baires and in Jiguany, near Santiago. The 
revolution into which these two outbreaks devel- 
oped was due principally to the influence of Josi 
Marti, who has been called its father. He was a born 
conspirator, and since childhood had been devoted 
to the cause of the independence of his country; he 
had organized "Juntas" among the Cubans in al- 
most every city in the United States in order to help 
the insurrection which he had for years been med- 
itating. Several patriots of the ten years' war 
landed at Baracoa on March 31st, among them An- 
tonio and Jose Maceo. On April 11th, Maximo 
Gomez and Marti himself landed on the same spot. 
Marti was killed in battle on the 19th of Mav. His 
body was taken to Santiago by the Spaniards, and 
the words which were spoken over his remains at 
the burial by the Spanish Colonel Sandoval mani- 
fest sentiments so exceptionally different from those 
which have almost invariably inspired the actions 
of Spain, that they cause the student of the history 
of Cuba to feel as refreshed as a man who meets 
with an oasis in traveling through a desert, and 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 161 

they deserve to be reported here to the honor of 
that officer/ 1 ) 

"Gentlemen: — In presence of the corpse of him 
who in life was Jose Marti, and in the absence of any 
relative or friend who might speak over his remains 
such words as are customary, I request you not to 
consider these remains to be those of an enemy any 
more, but simply those of a man carried by political 
discords to face Spanish soldiers. From the mo- 
ment the spirits have freed themselves of matter, 
they are sheltered and magnanimously pardoned 
by the Almighty, and the abandoned matter is left 
in our care, for us to dispel all rancorous feelings, 
and give the corpse such Christian burial as is due 
to the dead." 

Gomez invaded the province of Puerto Principe, 
his old battle ground; subsequently he directed the 
movements in the East, and Maceo those in the 
West. Calixto Garcia, another veteran of the ten 
years' war was and is still another prominent 
leader. His forehead bears to this day the scar of the 
wound which he inflicted upon himself when, dur- 

0) The speech is taken from Halstead's Story of Cuba, page 266. 



162 



FOUR CENTURIES OF 




Cuban General 
Kius liivera. 





Cuban General 
Quintin Bandera. 




Cuban Cabecilla (Chief) 
Jesus Kabi. 



Cuban Sentry. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 163 

ing the course of that war, he attempted to take his 
own life, because, like the Siboneyes of old, he pre- 
ferred to die rather than to fall into the hands of 
the Spaniards; however, he did not succeed, and 
although his life was spared by the enemies, he 
was made acquainted with the horrors of a Span- 
ish prison. Antonio Macro was killed in 1896. He 
was a colored man, and had been the last one of the 
leaders of the previous revolution to lay down his 
arms; it is said that his father, who afterwards was 
killed during the war of 1868-1878, after his farm 
had been burned by the Spaniards, at that time had 
made his children sweat on its ruins that they would 
consecrate their lives to the liberation ot their coun- 
try. After Maceo's death Maximo Gomez assumed 
supreme command of the revolutionary army. 

It would be necessary to go beyond the limits 
set to this study in order to follow in detail all the 
events of this revolution, and to pick out of the 
confusing multitude of contradictory news which 
was received of this war such of it as was wheat and 
such as was chaff; it will be enough for our pur- 



164 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

pose to say that Senator Proctor who made lately 
a personal investigation of the condition of affairs 
in the Island ascertained that out of the 200,000 
soldiers which Spain sent to Cuba since the begin- 
ning of the rebellion in 1895, only 60,000 remained 
fit for duty at the time of his visit. On the other 
hand it is stated, on good authority, that out of the 
1,500,000 inhabitants which the Island contained in 
1895 only 900,000 are left alive. The prisoners 
made by the Spaniards are invariably shot; the 
revolutionists at first spared the lives of the pris- 
oners who fell into their hands, but later have done 
the same as their enemies; disease and starvation 
do the rest. The rebels burn the canefields so that 
no export duty may be collected on the sugar pro- 
duced by the Island to increase the resources of the 
enemy, and so that no money from its sale may 
come into Cuba and find its way to Spain in pay- 
ment for purchases of Spanish manufactures; they 
destrov farms and wreck villages. 

The Spaniards ruin and burn everything that is 
left in order to deprive the insurgents of the means 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 165 

of obtaining a subsistence. Spain has conclusively 
shown that she is unable to put an end to the in- 
surrection, and had the United States allowed the 
situation to be prolonged indefinitely the story of 
the Kilkenny cats, which was recalled in this con- 
nection by a correspondent of the "London Times," 
would have been particularly appropriate in de- 
scribing the situation, since neither a Spaniard nor 
a Cuban w r ould have been left to tell the tale, and 
the Island would have consisted of a mound of 
skeletons on a mass of ruins. 

Soon after the revolution broke out, Spain sent 
Marshal Martinez Campos to subdue it, but the 
Cubans had grown suspicious of Spaniards who 
came to them with an offer of presents, and besides, 
here again as formerly in the case of General Dulce, 
the Peninsulars and the Volunteers were dissatis- 
fied with the Marshal's comparative lack of sever- 
ity, and they still controlled the situation. After a 
short time, Campos was recalled and General Wey- 
ler was sent to take, his place, with a commission 
which gave him absolute authority over the Island. 



166 



FOUR CENTURIES OF 





V H 4 



}A <* if.' W. "ihh v 

V.V >//? <i* 



Hernando De Soto. 

From an engraving in Herrera's 
Historia General, (edition of 1728). 



'f 



General Valeriano Weyler. 




*V- 



General Martinez Campos. 



Spanish General Pando. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 167 

The atrocities perpetrated by Don Valeriano 
Weyler, a Spaniard of Austrian descent, who will 
go down to posterity under the surname of "the 
butcher,"* 1 ^ are in everyone's memory. This Austro- 
Spaniard, in whom seem to have descended the 
cruel instincts both of a Radetzky and of a Duke of 
Alva, had an idea which, had he been born in an- 
other age, might have been considered a stroke of 
genius; it was the idea of tearing thousands upon 
thousands of peaceful men, women and children 
from their homes in the. fields, of dragging them into 
the cities, and of leaving them there to starve, so 
that they might not give any comfort to the cause 
of the enemy he was fighting. Unfortunately for 
Weyler, he was born too late, such talent is not 
appreciated in our times, save perhaps, in his own 
country; in every other part of the civilized world 
it is regarded with feelings of abhorrence. 

The man who could not conquer Cuba with one 
hundred thousand soldiers or more, now boasts that 
he can conquer the United States with fifty thou- 

(!) Weyler inherited this title from the General Count of Bal- 
maseda, to whom it was given during the ten years' war— See also 
note 9, page 206. 



168 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

sand, and the surprise with which we are listening 
to his utterances is somewhat similar to that which 
was once experienced by Balaam. 

Weyler arrived in Havana February 10, 1896; he 
at once issued a proclamation announcing that the 
utmost severity would be the ruling spirit of his ad- 
ministration; by his orders military tribunals took 
the place of civil courts, and a few days after his ar- 
rival, he inaugurated his reign by causing a number 
of political prisoners in Cabanas to be shot. It was 
then that Gomez and Maceo proclaimed that if 
Weyler would kiil prisoners they would retaliate by 
killing every Spanish soldier who might fall into 
their hands. 

Another idea in which Weyler placed great con- 
fidence besides that of reconcentrating into the 
cities, Pacificos, or countrymen, who were non- 
combatants, was that of the famous Trocha. This 
is a system of military roads extending in several 
directions in the Island and supposed to form a 
barrier which the insurgents would be entirely un- 
able to pass. Gomez, during the ten years' war 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 169 

passed it seven times and, on one occasion, even 
took his wife and his children along. Balmaseda 
had a poor opinion of the Trocha, and said that he 
would not have it even for a gift, but Campos and 
especially Weyler, who largely extended it, greatly 
relied on this obsolete strategic device, which has 
been justly compared to a China wall in point of 
utility. The Trocha was crossed several times by 
the Cuban leaders. In spite of it Gomez invaded 
Matanzas and Havana provinces; Maceo marched 
into Pinar del Rio; then for a time both generals 
disappeared, and Weyler published a bulletin de- 
claring the Provinces of Havana and Pinar del Rio 
free of insurgents. Immediately Maceo returned, 
sacked and burned the port of Batabano, to the 
south of Havana, and began a second invasion of 
Pinar del Rio; within six weeks he had entered or 
destroyed nearly every town, city and village in 
the province. 

When a commission was sent to Havana to 
solicit from General Wevler some o-overmncnt aid 
for the destitute people who were starving in the 



170 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

cities where he had driven the Reconcentrados, his 
answer was: "Nothing, the people must bow their 
heads." In an interview with a lady representing 
an American newspaper, Mrs. Masterson, he was 
asked whether the stories that had been published 
of his cruelty could be denied, and he merely 
shrugged his shoulders and said that "such things 
were not important." 

Despite the small importance which he gave 
to the life of his fellow-beings, Weyler could accom- 
plish nothing, and Spain finally decided to recall 
him and to send a milder man in his place. It was 
too late. General Blanco became Captain-General 
and Weyler returned home declaring that the Span- 
ish government had yielded in a cowardly manner 
to the insolent demands of the United States. Later, 
a scheme of Autonomy for Cuba was formed by 
Spain, and it was sought to put it into practice. 
Had such a reform been granted thirty, or even 
twenty years ago, and had Spain faithfully observed 
its provisions, the problem would most likely have 
been satisfactorily solved. But the time for such a 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 171 

thing had passed; the Cubans had come to distrust 
Spain more than ever in consequence of her actions 
after the peace of El Zanjon, and their leaders, among 
whom there are of course some excellent scholars, 
remembered the old saying, "Timeo Danaos et dona 
ferentes," (1) and applied its philosophy to the scheme 
of Autonomy as they had applied it to the bland- 
ishments of Martinez Campos on his second visit 
to the Island; and so the destruction, the ruin and 
the death still went merrilv on on both sides. 



C 1 ) This verse from Virgil's iEneid has been translated as follows : 
"The Greeks I fear, and most when gifts they bring." 



172 



FOUR CENTURIES OF 





General Blanco, 

Probably the last of the Spanish 
Captain-Generals in Cuba. 



Admiral Segismundo Bermejo, 

Spanish Ex-Minister of Marine. 




Don Segismundo Moret y 
Frendergast, 

Spanish Ex-Minister of the Colonies. 



Don Alberto Aguilera y 
Vela sco, 

Civil Governor of Madrid. 



CHAPTER XV. 

The Feeling at Home- Autonomy— The Situation in 
the Winter of 1897-98. 

The representatives of the American people mani- 
fested several times since the present revolution 
broke out the universal feeling in the United States 
in regard to the Cuban question by introducing 
and discussing in Congress many resolutions pro- 
claiming the sentiment of this nation that Cuba 
had the right to shake off the infamous and de- 
tested Spanish yoke. Thus, during the first session 
of the Fifty-fourth Congress concurrent resolutions 
were passed suggesting to the President the advis- 
ability of recognizing the insurgents as belligerent 
forces and also advising him to negotiate with 
Spain towards securing the independence of the 
Island. The Foreign Relations Committee of the 
Senate adopted resolutions acknowledging inde- 
pendence, and they were reported by Senator Cam- 
eron on the 21st of December, 1896. Later, the 
Senate passed by a vote of 41 to 14 a joint resolu- 

(173) 



174 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

tion, declaring that war existed in Cuba, and that 
the government should accord the rights of bellig- 
erents to the insurgents, but the twobranches of Con- 
gress did not come together as to the terms in 
which such a resolution should be passed. Both 
Mr. Cleveland and Mr. McKinley, however, fol- 
lowed in this regard the precedent left by the 
Administration of President Grant during the 
ten years' war, and constantly refused' to 
acknowledge either the belligerency of the insur- 
gents or the independence of the State which the 
latter claimed to have organized, for the same 
reasons that directed the policy of the United States 
during that war. The revolutionists had, it is true, 
an appearance of civil government, witn a House 
of Representatives and an Administration, Salvador 
Cisneros being President and Bartolome Maso, 
Vice-President, the latter afterwards succeeding- 
Cisneros in the Presidency, and the capital was 
said to be at Cubitas, but it was evident that the so- 
called government had no power to enforce its 
decisions, and was rather the expression of a desire 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 175 

for such a government than a government in reality. 

With the loyalty which has always characterized 
the action of the United States in the Cuban ques- 
tion the President issued, in June, 1896, a procla- 
mation of neutrality, warning the citizens of this 
country that they should not aid the insurgents; 
and, for this, General Weyler soon after returned 
thanks by assuming to abrogate the contracts of 
Cubans with Americans and by claiming the right 
to imprison American citizens, and even put them 
to death. 

Notwithstanding the President's proclamation, 
the Administration found it extremely difficult, as 
it had on previous occasions to prevent the organi- 
zation of filibustering expeditions, and although it 
exerted its powers to their full extent in that direc- 
tion many such expeditions were, nevertheless, or- 
ganized in this country; for as Mr. Bayard had 
written in 1885 to Minister Valera, "this govern- 
ment does not and cannot undertake, as I have 
shown, to control the workings of opinion; sym- 
pathy and affiliation of sentiments and the expres- 



176 • FOUR CENTURIES OF 

sion thereof are not punishable in this country by 
law," and it was that affiliation of sentiments which 
found an expression in the getting up of expedi- 
tions in aid of the revolutionists, and in dealing 
leniently with the violators of the law whenever they 
were caught. Many complications followed on this 
account, and in this connection may be mentioned 
the case of the bark "Competitor," which came 
near being a repetition of the "Virginius" affair. 

At last Spain formulated a plan of Autonomy 
for the Island, and sought to put it in operation; 
but it was unacceptable to the Insular Cubans for 
the reasons which have been told in the preceding 
chapter; the insurgents considered the offer as a 
mere device of Spain to induce them to lay down 
their arms. Nevertheless President McKinley en- 
deavored to persuade the Cubans to give the plan 
a trial, and he insisted in his message of December, 
1897, that the new liberal government of Spain 
should have an opportunity of trying the effect, in 
the island, of a new and more humane policy, which 
Captain-General Blanco was supposed to represent; 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 



177 




178 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

but the President emphatically asserted the right 
of this country to intervene in case the insurrection 
should be prolonged, notwithstanding the reforms 
promised by the Spaniards. 

And while the President of the United States 
was making these most generous efforts to maintain 
the peace, and restrain the impatience of his people, 
giving in these circumstances a proof of such states- 
manship as must entitle him to the respect and 
approval of even his political enemies, the orgy of 
Death was going on in the fair Island at our doors. 

The Cuban mothers were raising their hands in 
prayer to God, and fervently hoping in the United 
States for the execution of His will. (1) Spain was 
talking of her honor and of her dignity. Part of 
Europe was looking on, unconscious; another part 
was softly murmuring its sympathy, but was keep- 
ing its hands in its pockets; another still, was 
praising the chivalry of Spain, remembering her old 
traditions, asserting her rights. Here and there, 
in the dark, Spanish bonds were lurking. 

( x ) "Men and women existed in dull unceasing- dread, praying that 
Mr. Cleveland, who could do anything, would interfere to help them." 
— Grover Flint— "Marching with Gomez," page 100. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 179 

In this country, the case was different. Here the 
people — the mass of the American people — cared 
nothing for the more or less disinterested talk of 
sensational newspapers, cared still less for the in- 
terests of Wall street speculators, for those of the 
Sugar Trust, or for those of the holders of either 
Spanish or Cuban bonds. Their one, single, ob- 
stinate idea was that a carousal of blood was going 
on within one hundred miles of their land of liberty; 
that a brave people preferred their own extermina- 
tion to giving up the same inalienable rights which 
have created this nation, and that no hope, no trust 
was to be placed in Spain for sincerity and truthful- 
ness. The danger to peace was great; a very small 
spark might have given rise to a great conflagra- 
tion; but the spark did not come. 

There came, instead, a thunderbolt. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The Maine — The Outcome of a Commercial Inclination 
— Why Arbitration was not Resorted To — A Differ- 
ent Interpretation of Words — How Revolutions 
Should be Opposed — Freedom at Last — Why We Are 
At War With Spain — The Genius of America — The 
Future Destinies of Cuba. 

The destruction of the ship which, as the "Illus- 
tration Espaiiola" rather ironically said, "was sent 
to us in an evil hour by the courtesy of the North 
American people," broke the last vestige of patience 
which Uncle Sam had left. 

In the same spirit of fairness and impartiality which 
causes us to say that we must give his dues even to 
the Prince of Darkness we are not prepared to assert 
at the present time that the terrible event of the 15th 
of February, 1898 — happened with the connivance 
of the Spanish officials, for before such an assertion 
is made undoubted proofs thereof should be se- 
cured, which, so far, has not been done; perhaps it 
never will, so that the real cause of the explosion of 
the "Maine" is likely to remain a mystery forever. 

(180) 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 



181 



H 

a 


a 

4 


a 
o 

Ms 

a 

s 



s 

M 



00 

oo 




182 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

But whether it happened through the guilt of 
Spain, or was the action of one or more fanatics 
acting independently and without the knowledge of 
the Spanish authorities, the fact remains that Spain 
has been negligent or powerless in not preventing 
the outrage. If she has been negligent she deserves 
punishment, if powerless, then authority in Cuba 
should be placed in more competent hands. Spain 
has been clamorously protesting and expressing 
her indignation at the suspicions which were di- 
rected against her, and these protests, which have, 
it must be said, all the appearance of being sincere, 
are entitled to consideration; but at the same time 
it must be remembered that history shows us that 
Spain is naturally cruel and given to not observing 
her compacts, and for that reason those of us who 
listen to her shrieks with a little incredulity may 
properly be excused for so doing. As to the sup- 
position that the explosion may have been alto- 
gether accidental, it is entirely excluded by the 
report of our Board of Inquiry, which was com- 
posed of competent men who investigated the sub- 
ject thoroughly. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 183 

However it may be, it is certain that the exasper- 
ation provoked in the American people by that 
horrible loss and the cruel death of about two hun- 
dred and sixty-six brave men precipitated matters 
and determined an intervention justified in every 
way by the circumstances; at any rate, the "New 
York Herald" has lately made this interesting cal- 
culation, which the Spaniards will not fail to at- 
tribute to the commercial spirit of this nation: 

Total cost of Spanish men-of-war de- 
stroyed at Manila, May 1, 1898... $8,400,000 

Total cost of the Maine 4,689,000 



Balance in our favor, $3,711,000 

And it is most likely that when the final settlement 
is made, at the end of the war, the ledger will show 
a still handsomer balance to our advantage. 

It has been said that we should have allowed 
the question of the "Maine" to be settled by ar- 
bitration. Perhaps. Mr. Fish in a cablegram to 
Minister Sickles at the time of the "Virginius" 
affair stated that when the subject is one of national 



184 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

honor the question is not one for arbitration; the 
same view lately prevented the ratification by the 
U. S. Senate of an Arbitration Treaty between this 
country and Great Britain. It is a mistaken view: 
arbitration is the proper way to settle any question, 
no matter of what importance or whatever may be 
the subject involved; indeed, the graver the ques- 
tion, the greater the call for arbitration, and this 
will, let us hope, come to be acknowledged at no very 
distant time by all civilized nations. We do not, in 
this country, consider duels as a means of settling 
quarrels involving a matter of honor among in- 
dividuals; we think, in fact, that we have gone a 
step further in civilization than most other nations 
because we do not so recognize it. Why, then, 
should we claim that it is the only way of settling 
such questions among people? But we have be- 
hind us the history of four centuries which says 
that the course which it would have been proper to 
follow had our quarrel been with England, France, 
Germany or any other nation, was extremely diffi- 
cult, not to say impossible, in the case of Spain. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 185 

Spain promised the Indians that she would stop 
slaughtering them, but she continued to butcher 
them, and while she was doing so, she was talking 
of her honor and dignity. (1) 

Spain delayed answering and evaded our just and 
reasonable claims in the case of the "Black War- 
rior," and a hundred others of the same kind during 
that period, till she obtained her object of not giv- 
ing the United States the satisfaction she owed 

them. 

Spain promised and assured us that General 
Duke's order would be revoked, and that the par- 
ticipants in filibustering expeditions would not be 
treated as pirates; and still fifty-three of the crew 
of the "Virginius" were wickedly murdered, and 
one hundred more would have been killed had it 
not been for the timely interference of English and 
American cannons. 

Spain undertook the obligation of giving us a 
reparation by saluting our flag, and of otherwise 
giving us some satisfaction for the "Virginius" out- 

(i) See note 10, page 207. 



186 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

rage, but she succeeded in beating us out of every- 
thing except the payment of a paltry sum of money, 
and she laughed in her sleeve while she still talked 
of her honor and dignity. 

Spain promised the. Cubans, in 1878, ample re- 
forms and thus obtained that they should give 
up their fight against her. She gave them the re- 
forms, but they had a string attached to them. 
Spain, while she stood on her honor and dignity, 
pulled that string, and, presto! the reforms dis- 
appeared. 

What guarantee would we have had, that Spain, 
had we submitted the question of the "Maine" to a 
Tribunal of Arbitration, would have faithfully 
abided by the decision of that Tribunal and not 
tried to evade it in some way? What assurance 
could Spain give us that she was more sincere in 
offering a scheme of Autonomy to Cuba than she 
had been twenty years ago at El Zanjon? 

Honor and Dignity! Spain has had for centuries 
her mouth full of those words, and she has been 
acting all along with regard to Cuba and the United 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 187 

States, savagely and unfaithfully; there is such a 
vast distance between the value which is placed on 
them by the American people and the manner 
in which they have been understood by the various 
governments of Spain that it were a hopeless task 
to endeavor to fill it. 

And here, I wish to introduce to the reader a 
good, old Italian proverb: "Le cose che vanno per 
le lunghe diventano serpi" — "Things that are de- 
layed and long drawn out end by becoming snakes." 
No good can come of them. Whenever questions 
have arisen between Spain and the. United States 
she has delayed, and postponed, and evaded, until 
the results, as far as the United States are con- 
cerned, have invariably been — "snakes." 

But we could not allow the question of the 
"Maine" to assume that aspect; no other nation 
would have done it, and none could reasonably 
have expected the United States to do it; neither 
could we allow the devastation and wholesale mur- 
der in Cuba to go on indefinitely, and these are the 
reasons for which we are at present at war with 



188 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

Spain, since she refused to acknowledge her errors 
and to see what all the rest of the entire world has 
clearly perceived, that in the nineteenth century 
there is no place in this hemisphere for the remnant 
of a system which would have disgraced the middle 
ages. 

Sixty or seventy years ago, an Italian statesman, 
Cesare Alfieri, said that "revolutions must be op- 
posed by reform — ample reform." t 1 ) The wisdom 
of that principle has not been recognized by Spain; 
she has persistently refused to grant any reform 
until after having been dragged to do it by force, 
thinking that it was below her dignity to grant it 
of her own free will; then her promises, grudgingly 
given, have been unfaithfully kept, and besides, even 
supposing that her intentions were sincere, the new 
colonial scheme came too late to be of any avail. 
It is to this mistaken sense of honor and dignity, 
to this blind obstinacy, that Spain largely owes her 
present plight. 

On the 18th of April, 1898, the memorable day on 

C 1 ) From late indications it would seem that this principle might 
be profitably applied in the country where it originated. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 189 

which the Congiess of the United States proclaimed 
"that the Cuban people, are, and of right ought to 
be, free and independent," the death-knell of Span- 
ish domination in America was tolled. Will 
Cuba attain true liberty and establish sound and 
lasting republican institutions, such as we possess, 
and which may give her freedom, happiness and 
prosperity if she decides to form a separate nation, 
with a separate government of her own after the 
last Spanish soldier has been driven from the 
Island? 

Our own American nation is a composite body, 
formed chiefly by the very best elements of old Eu- 
rope. On the positive, practical and daring spirit of 
the Anglo-Saxon have been grafted the perseve] 
ance of the Teuton and of the Scandinavian, the fier 
inclination of the Celt, and, more recently, 
idealistic and artistic tendencies of the Italian; from 
the blending of these various elements, which bal- 
ance and complete each other, a type has been 
formed, and is still in course of formation, whi h 
will continue to improve with time, after some 



193 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

asperities have been rounded, and after it becomes 
still more homogeneous. 

Not so with the Cubans; they are of one and the 
same European blood, it is that of their oppressors, 
and the large infusion of the blood of an ignorant 
and inferior race like the negro has certainly not 
done anything toward improvement. By the nat- 
ural law of heredity, the Cuban inherits the good 
qualities of the Spaniard — courage and patriotism — 
but he must also reflect his imperfections; if the 
truth is to be told, it must be acknowledged that 
cruelty has not existed only on the Spanish side 
during the horrible contest. 

License and anarchy, not true liberty, is the 
state of things which prevails in most of the smaller 
countries of Central and South America, which can 
hardly be called Republics, but rather caricatures 
of a Republic, rent as they continually are by revo- 
lutions, torn by factions and arbitrarily ruled by 
whoever may have the force of obtaining the power, 
while the will of the majority peacefully expressed 
and implicitly obeyed, on which are based such 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 191 

• 

free institutions as the ones which we enjoy, is 
totally disregarded. Such is the condition of affairs 
which would in all certainty prevail in Cuba, should 
she conclude to establish a separate government for 
herself. The large proportion of the negroes in the 
population of the Island should also be considered. 
The fear was once expressed that by becoming Afri- 
canized, Cuba would be a source of danger to the 
United States; the causes which gave rise to that fear 
do not exist any more, still the ends of humanity and 
the cause of civilization would not be served by the 
creation of a second Hayti, and we may for the wel- 
fare of the Island itself properly feel some apprehen- 
sion in that respect; left to herself it would probably 
continue to be an eye-sore to the civilized world in 
general, and to the United States in particular. 

The lone star of Cuba has been Gravitating for a 
long time towards the pleiades on our national em- 
blem; it should find its place on it by the ^ide of 
what was once the lone star of Texas, and it should 
reach it by a more direct route. 

We cannot be accused of having gone into this 



192 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

war for want of more territory. The fair Hawaiian 
Islands have been begging us for years to take them 
into our family, and we have not made up our mind 
yet whether we will accept them or not. Slavery 
died long ago; the conditions which it created have 
ceased to exist; most of us are not particularly 
anxious for Cuban sugar; some interests in this 
country might obtain an advantage through the an- 
nexation of the Island, but others would just as 
surely be injured. In a general way the only advan- 
tage which we may find either in the independence 
or annexation of Cuba is the restoration of our 
legitimate commerce with it which has been utterly 
ruined by the long and ferocious conflict; a very im- 
portant objection has been raised in this country to 
the annexation on the ground that an undesirable 
element would be introduced in the population of 
the United States. This, however, in my opinion, 
although it may have been true long ago, should 
not be feared at the present time, because the food 
which would kill a child may properly be assim- 
ilated by the body of a man, and because it has 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 193 

been sufficiently demonstrated that white and Afri- 
can blood will not mix to any extent in this 
country. 

Thus, whatever there may be of unworthiness in 
American politics it did not inspire this war, in spite 
of the assertions of a few ignorant or prejudiced 
foreign newspapers. It was inspired by the same 
genius which prompted the thirteen colonies to de- 
clare themselves free from the mother country, the 
genius which, as Thomas Jefferson had prophesied 
nearly one hundred years ago, built "such an em- 
pire for liberty as she has never surveyed since the 
creation;" the genius which abolished slavery; it 
is the same genius which preserved the peace in 
1854 which has broken it in 1898, the genius of that 
America which Castelar in his prime called ''the 
America of freedom, of democracy and of right." 

To would-bewitticisms,to idiotic slander and base 
insinuations the American people can answer by 
pointing with pride to these words which were writ- 
ten in 1853 by the Secretary of State of the United 
States, Mr. Marcv, to the American Minister at 



194 FOUR CENTURIES OF 




X 


ft 

P 

© 



a 

eS 
- 
02 



— 

d 



S3 

O 
> 

•H 
P3 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 195 

Paris, Mr. Buchanan; it forms part of the corre- 
spondence between the Administration of this 
country at that time and one of its agents; it is not 
hypocrisy, for, when written, the lines were not in- 
tended for the sight of the public: 

"It is true that we have in the last half-century 
greatly enlarged our territory, and so have Great 
Britain and France enlarged theirs, but we have 
done it in a manner that may proudly challenge the 
most rigid scrutiny of mankind. In our territorial 
expansion, international law has been observed, the 
rights of others rigorously respected; nothing in 
short has been done to justify the slightest suspi- 
cion of rapacity. The Government of the United 
States is not unwilling to submit its whole public 
conduct in this, or indeed in all other respects, to 
the most scrupulous examination." 

These nob'e words, true in 1853, are still true in 
1898, and the unanimity with which the represen- 
tatives of this nation have, irrespective of the differ- 
ent interests of the various regions whence they had 
been sent to Congress, voted, for the measure which 



196 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

determined the present hostilities, should alone be 
sufficient to convince the most obdurate doubter 
that the motives of the American nation are honor- 
able and honest. 

We are not bent on a war of conquest; we dis- 
claim all intention of selfish interest; we do not 
need and are not seeking any expansion of territory. 
We will give the Cubans entire freedom in the 
choice of their future destinies; but if they are wise, 
after gaining their liberty they will decide to pre- 
serve it by joining our Union. And if they are prac- 
tically unanimous in their desire of doing so, we 
shall not deny them that privilege. 

Then, and then only, will the "Queen of the 
Antilles" know again the peace and the rest which 
she has not known since her simple and primitive 
inhabitants first greeted the strangers who came to 
her in their search for gold. 



NOTES. 
1 

Seventy-seven different portraits of Columbus were 
gathered at the Columbian Historical Exposition, which 
was held in Madrid in 1892-93, and none of them bore any- 
material resemblance to the others. Mr. Wm. E. Curtis, 
assistant to the Commissioner-General for the United 
States at that Exposition, who was in charge of the his- 
torical section, said in his report that "there is no evi- 
dence that the features of Columbus have ever been 
painted or engraved by anyone during his life," and that 
"the date of the earliest picture that pretended to repre- 
sent him was six years later than his death. His portrait 
has been painted, like that of the Madonna and the 
Saints, by many famous artists each dependent upon the 
verbal description given of the man by contemporaneous 
writers and each conveying to the canvas his own con- 
ception of what the great seaman's face must have been; 
but it may not be said that any of the portraits are gen- 
uine and it is believed that all of them are more or less 
fanciful." * * * 

"The only portrait which is positively known to have 

been drawn during the life of the discoverer was a cari- 

(197) 



198 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

cature, the sketch of La Cosa, the pilot, and is known as 

"The La Cosa Vignette." Juan de la Cosa was the pilot 

of Columbus, and made the first chart of the West Indies. 

It was drawn on an oxhide and is inscribed "Juan de la 

Cosa la fijo en el Puerto de Sta. Maria, en el ano de 

1500" (made it in the Port of Santa Maria in the year 1500). 

At the top, in the center, is a rude vignette drawn with 

an ordinary pen and an awkward hand, representing St. 

Christopher bearing the Christ child across a stream, and 

meant to be symbolic of Columbus carrying Christianity 

to the new world. It was one of the legends of the day 

that La Cosa intended to give St. Christopher the features 

of Columbus. Baron von Humboldt, who had heard of 

the chart, found it in Paris in 1832, in the library of Herr 

Valcknaer, from whom it was purchased by the Spanish 

government, and it now hangs in the Naval Museum at 

Madrid." 

{Executive Documents of the House of Representatives 
■ 
for the Third Session of the Fifth-third Congress, 1894-95, 

Vol. 31st.) 

"The upholders of the movement to procure the canon- 
ization of Columbus, like De Lorgues, have claimed that 
La Cosa represented the features of Columbus in the face 
of St. Christopher." (Justin Winsor, History of Amer- 
ica, Vol. 2d, page 71.) 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 199 

2 

Individually, in private life and in social intercourse, the 
Spaniards are charming people, or at least many or most 
of them are, and no prejudice should be entertained against 
them in that regard, for there are among them many 
kind, distinguished and highly cultured men. I wish to 
remember particularly here in this respect Don Jose 
Blanco and Don Juliano Principe, the former Consul, the 
latter Vice Consul for Spain at Philadelphia, in 1878; both 
are long since dead, and were among the most accom- 
plished gentlemen whom it has ever been my fortune to 
meet. But the spirit of the Nation is cruel and way 
behind the times. 

3 

Bartholomew de Las Casas was born at Seville in 1474 
and went to the Indies with Columbus in 1498, returning 
to Cadiz in 1500. He re-embarked with him in 1502. and 
was ordained Priest by the Bishop of Hispaniola in 15 10, 
being the first ecclesiastic ordained in the so-called Indies 
to say there his virgin mass. In his writings he called 
himself the "Clerigo" (the clergyman) and soon won the 
title of Universal Protector of the Indians. He returne 1 to 
Spain in 1515, but went back to the new world in the 
following year; he also made a number of other trips 
back and forth, finally returning to Spain in 1547. 



200 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

His principal work bears, in English, the following 
title: "A Relation of the first Voyage and Discoveries 
made by the Spaniards in America — With an account of 
the Unparalleled Cruelties on the Indians in the Destruc- 
tion of above Forty Millions of people — together with the 
Propositions offered to the King of Spain to prevent the 
further Ruin of the West Indies, By Don Bartholomew 
de las Casas, Bishop of Chiapa, who was an eye-witness 
of their cruelties." It was finished at Valencia in 1542, 
near the beginning of the reign of Philip II. to whom it 
was dedicated. In the thirty "Propositions" which he 
laid before the King he claimed that the Kings of Spain 
held the right of sovereignty in the Indies from the Pope, 
who "derived from Christ authority and power extending 
over all men, believers or infidels, in matters pertaining 
to salvation and eternal life," and who in order to propo- 
gate the gospel must avail himself of the help of Christian 
princes. "The means for establishing the Faith in the 
Indies," said Las Casas in the 22d Proposition, "should 
be the same as those by which Christ introduced his re- 
ligion into the world, mild, peaceable and charitable," 
and he held that if the kings of Spain did not use the 
authority thus received from the Pope over the Indies for 
the purpose and in the manner which he stated, then 
they had no right to exercise such authority. In the 28th 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 201 

Proposition he said that "The Devil could not have done 
more mischief than the Spaniards have done in spoiling 
the countries with their rapacity and tyranny; subjecting 
the natives to cruel tasks, treating them like beasts, and 
persecuting those especially who apply to the monks for 
instructions." 

Las Casas described the Indians of Cuba as lambs who 
had encountered tigers, wolves and lions. Occasionally, 
he tells us, a maddened Indian would kill a Spaniard, and 
then his death would be followed by the massacre of a 
score or a hundred natives. The more generous the pres- 
ents in treasures which were made by some timid Cacique 
to his despoilers, the more brutally was he dealt with in 
hope of extorting what he was suspected of having con- 
cealed. Las Casas stakes his veracity on this assertion: 
"I saw with my own eyes above six thousand children die 
in three or four months." 

He had, of course, a large number of enemies, who 
were interested in preventing any interference in the con- 
duct of affairs in the new world, and one of their prin- 
cipal arguments was that his statements were greatly 
exaggerated; but it is well established that although Las 
Casas may possibly have exaggerated somewhat the num- 
ber of the victims, for he made it amount in some of his 
writings to even fifty millions, his tale was nevertheless 



202 FOUR. CENTURIES OF 

entirely correct as to the cruelty of the conquerors. In 
one of his works he quoted a protest from the Bishop of 
Santa Martha, written in 1541, to the King of Spain, in 
which the Bishop said: "The Spaniards live there like dev- 
ils, rather than Christians, violating all the laws of God and 
man." Herrera, who in his Historia General, published in 
Madrid in 1601, was the first of the historians of the new 
world to use documentary proofs to any extent, says that 
Las Casas was worthy of all confidence and in no par- 
ticulars has failed to tell the truth. Even Torquemada, of 
infamous inquisitorial name, sustained the truth of his 
assertions. 

His principal enemies were Oviedo, who had held high 
offices in the new world, and Juan Ginez de Sepulveda, a 
theologian and historian. The latter made two points or 
"Conclusions" against the "Clerigo," first, that the Span- 
iards had a right to subjugate and require the submission 
of the Indians because of their own superior wisdom and 
prudence, and second, that if the Indians should refuse to 
submit they might justly be constrained by force of arms. 

Las Casas wrote a large number of memorials or argu- 
mentative treaties in refutation of the doctrines of his 
opponents. 

•His biographer, Llorente, said that he was blameless, 
and that there was no stain upon his great virtues. He 
died in Madrid in July, 1569. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 203 

* 

(This notice on Las Casas is condensed from the exten- 
sive account of his life and works in the 2d vol. of Justin 
Winsor's History of America.) 

4 

On the 4th of December, i860, President Buchanan sent 
a message to Congress in which he said that he had 
arrived at the conclusion that Congress had no power to 
coerce into submission "a state which is attempting to 
withdraw, or has actually withdrawn from the Con- 
federacy." 

5 

Mr. Soule in a letter from Madrid to Secretary Marcy, 
dated June 24, 1854, referring to the proclamation of Presi- 
dent Pierce against the filibusters, said: "It is con- 
sidered by many as a disingeneous mode of masking de- 
signs which they suppose it were a scandal to lay bare to 
the gaze of the world," and he called that impression 
"strange and discrepant." 

6 

"Otho (the King of Greece in 1861) was a man whom 
the Greek people had no further use for. He had prom- 
ised Victor Emanuel to organize a National Guard in 
Greece and he had failed to keep his word. I showed the 
King of Italy that the inevitable fall of Otho was to hap- 



204 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

pen soon. 'Yes,' he said, 'all kings who do not carry out 
the will of their people must fall; and that one also,' he 
added striking with an energetical gesture the table with 
his fist, 'that one also will shortly fall' 

"Will a day ever come when it will be necessary to re- 
mind, I will not say Victor Emanuel, but some one of his 
successors, of these beautiful words?" 

(Marco Antonio Canini, "Vingt ans d'Exil," Paris, 
1869.) 

Amadeus was a son of Victor Emanuel, and a brother of 
Humbert, the present King of Italy. 



Heinrich Heine said of himself: 

"I am a German poet, 

Of goodly German fame;" 

but he lived most of his life in France, and his fame is 
world-wide. 

The maxim quoted here is contained in a passage of his 
writings which, not to speak of its grim humor, originality 
and the sudden and unexpected transition from a calm 
and pastoral style to one of intense force combine to 
render one of the most remarkable things ever written in 
any language. Here it is such as I find it translated by 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 205 

Richard Burton, in the "Library of the World's Best 
Literature:" — 

"I have the most peaceful disposition. My desires are 
a modest cottage with thatched roof, but a good bed, good 
fare, fresh milk and butter, flowers by my window, and a 
few pine trees before the door, and if the Lord wished to 
fill my cup of happiness, he would grant me the pleasure 
of seeing some six or seven of my enemies hanged on 
those trees. With a heart moved to pity, I would before 
their death forgive the injury they had done me during 
their lives. Yes, we ought to forgive our enemies — but 
not until they are hanged." 

It has been said of Heine that "he was mortified by 
physical infirmity and moral disappointment into a harsh 
and sometimes cruel satirist." 

"In the midst of the overbearing lordship of Spain, 
which was a shame to our country, and which from the 
treaty of Chateau-Cambrai lasted for almost a century and 
a half, Venice knew how to keep herself independent. To 
the silly Spanish bragging the aristocracy still was finding 
the strength of answering with a severe pride, and from 
the interdict of Paul V. to the war for the succession of 
Mantua the government of Saint Mark still had the cour- 



206 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

age of showing itself, alone in Italy, constantly and openly 

anti-Spanish." 

(Pompeo Molmenti, History of Venice in private life, 

page 327.) 

8 

Since this has been written I find in Le Figaro of 
April 23d an excellent article in which the writer, who 
signs himself simply "An American," makes an appeal for 
a proper understanding of the situation, and states our 
position with great clearness and correction. He ends 
by saying that what France has done for the United 
States at the time of the Revolution — when she generously 
gave her blood and her gold — is exactly what we are 
doing now for the Cubans. The editor prefaces the ar- 
ticle with a statement in which he says that the writer is 
one of the most eminent American statesmen, but that 
Spain has "positive right" on her side and that the sym- 
pathies of the paper will remain for her. 

The eminent American statesman will not convince the 
"Figaro," for the reason that "il n'y a pas de pire sourd 
que celui qui ne veut pas entendre" (there is no greater 
deafness than that of the man who does not wish to hear). 

9 

The title of "the butcher" was also applied fifty years 
ago to the Austrian Marshal, Haynau, famous for the 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 207 

cruelties which he committed in Hungary. During a visit 

which he paid in September, 1850, to the great brewery 

of Barclay & Perkins, in Southwark, London, he was 

assaulted by several hundreds of the working men in that 

establishment. The indignant Britons threw at him 

trusses of straw, grain and missiles of every kind that 

came to hand, shouting "Down with the Austrian 

butcher!" 

10 

Justin Winsor, in his History of America, referring to 
the efforts made by Las Casas in his various trips to Spain 
in order to secure the passage of laws favorable to the 
Indians, says "Perhaps the same vessel or fleet which car- 
ried him to the Islands with orders intended to advance 
his influence would bear fellow-passengers with documents 
or means to thwart all his reinforced mission." 

A clearer case of duplicity was never shown. 

11 

Maria Cristina, Archduchess of Austria, was born on 

the 21st of July, 1858. She married King Alfonso XII. 
of Spain on the 29th of November, 1879. King Alfonso 
died November 25th, 1885, and six months after his death 
Maria Cristina gave birth to a son who was named 
Alfonso, Leon, Ferdinand, Maria, James. Isidor, etc. 
On the day of his birth the little fellow was proclaimed 
King under the Regency of his mother. 



208 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

12 

Dr. F. F. Falco arrived in New York May 22, 1898. 
He is on his way to Cuba as a Delegate of the "Central 
Italian Committee for the liberation of Cuba," and he 
bears to President Masso the Resolutions of the Italians 
who are friendly to the Cuban cause. 

The Resolutions are signed by several members of the 
Italian Chamber of Deputies, and by other Italian nota- 
bilities, among them Mrs. Adele Albani in behalf of a 
committee of ladies. The text of the document is as 
follows: 

"Whereas the Cuban Committee of Rome is convinced 
that the revolution of Cuba has commended itself to the 
civilized world by the heroism of the insurgents against 
the long continued cruelty of their oppressors, and 

"Whereas that revolution deserves the praise and ap- 
proval of Rome, expressed through a decree of the 
People, therefor be it 

"Resolved, that Cuba after having proclaimed her in- 
dependence should be allowed to determine on the polit- 
ical form of her new existence by a popular vote, and be it 
further 

"Resolved, that Dr. Francesco Frederic Falco, a member 
of this Committee, be directed to bear to the Cuban 
government a copy of these Resolutions." 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 209 

Dr. Falco is also the bearer of similar resolutions which 
have been adopted by political associations in every part 
of Italy. They express sentiments of sympathy for the 
Cubans and for all nations and governments which may 
help them, and they appeal to all men to faithfully assist 
those who are fighting for their liberty, and "to be on 
their guard against the schemes of a treasonous press, 
which in helping Spain at the present time is forgetful of 
its mission of civilization." Dr. Falco says that the young 
men of Italy would be glad to have an opportunity of 
shedding, their blood for the liberation of Cuba. 

When the murder of Maceo occurred, the Italian Par- 
liament was the only one of the Parliaments of Europe 
in which a protest was made against it. 

(From the newspaper "II Progresso Italo-Americano," 
New York, May 25th, 1898.) 



APPENDIX. 

Latest Official Statistics of the Spanish. Colonies. 

(From the Statesman's Year Book for 1897.) 

CUBA. 

Cuba is divided into six provinces, each with a capital 
of the same name. The Governor-General is assisted by 
a Council of Administration, nominated by royal decree, 
and the Island is represented in the Spanish Parliament by 
16 senators and 30 deputies. The pretended Autonomist 
system, recently introduced, modifies somewhat the con- 
stitutional intercourse between the Island and the 
mother-country. Ten per cent, of the area is cul- 
tivated, 7 per cent, is unreclaimed, and 4 per cent, is 
under forests. There are large tracts of country still un- 
explored. The population of the Island in 1894 was given 
as 1,631,696, of which 65 per cent, was white, the remainder 
being negro. A law passed in 1886 abolished slavery ab- 
solutely. The capital, Havana, has (December, 1887) 
198,271 inhabitants, and the other most important towns 
are Santiago de Cuba, 71,307; Matanzas (1892), 27,000; 
Cienfuegos (1892), 27,430; Puerto Principe, 46,641; Hol- 

guin, 34,767; Sancti Spiritu, 32,608; Cardenas (1892) 23,- 

(210) 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 211 

680. Education was made obligatory in 1880. There are 
843 public schools in the Island, and Havana has a univer- 
sity. 

The estimated revenue for 1893-94, was 24,440,759 pesos, 
of which 11,375,000 was from customs; expenditure, 25,- 
984,239 pesos, of which 12,574,485 pesos was for the debt, 
5,904,084 pesos for the Ministry of War, and 4,015,034 
pesos for the Ministry of the Interior. The debt, which is 
rapidly increasing, is put at about 200,000,000 pesos. (The 
value of the gold "peso" is 93 cents American money.) 

The number of landed estates on the island in 1892 was 
estimated at 90,960 of the value of 220,000,000 pesos, and 
rental of 17,000,000 pesos. The live stock consisted of 
584,725 horses and mules, 2,485,766 cattle, 78,494 sheep, and 
570,194 pigs. The chief .produce is sugar and tobacco. 
The quantity of sugar produced in the year 1892-93. was 
815,894 tons; in 1893-94, i>054,2i4 tons; 1894-95, 1,004.264 
tons. Of 832,431 tons of sugar exported in 1895, 769,962 
tons went to the United States. The insurrection and 
incendiarism in the island ruined the prospects of sugar 
cultivation since 1896. The export of tobacco in 1892 was 
241,291 bales; 1893, 227,865 bales. The number of Havana 
cigars exported in 1892 was 154,931.133; in 1893, 147.365,- 
000; in 1894, 134,210,000; in 1895, 156,513,000. Cigarettes 
exported in 1895, /»8,i63,846 packets. Nearly all the tobacco 



212 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

and nearly half of the cigars go to the United States. 
Mahogany and other timbers are exported, as are also 
honey, wax, and fruits. The total exports from Cuba in 
1892 amounted to 89,652,514 pesos, of which 84,964,685 
pesos was for vegetable, 871,625 pesos for animal, and 
3,485,924. pesos for mineral produce. The import value 
was put at 56,265,315 pesos, of which 18,553,307 pesos was 
from Spain, 16,245, 880 pesos from the United States, and 
13.051,384 from Great Britain. The chief imports are rice, 
jerked beef, and flour. The Spanish official returns state 
the value of the imports from Cuba into Spain for 1894 
to be 37,643,110 Spanish pesetas, and the exports from 
Spain to Cuba 117,061,881 pesetas. 

In the district of Santiago de Cuba, at the end of 1891, 
the total number of mining titles issued was 296, with an 
extent of 13,727 hectares. Of the mines reported and 
claimed, 138 were iron, 88 manganese, and 53 copper. In 
1895 the port of Havana was visited by 1,179 vessels of 
1,691,325 tons; Cienfuegos and Cardenas by 490 of 
645,184 tons, and Santiago de Cuba by 338 of 
462,888 tons. In Cuba there are about 1,000 miles 
of railway belonging to companies, and the larger 
sugar estates have private lines connecting them with the 
main lines. There are 2,300 miles of telegraph line with 
153 offices. Messages in 1893, 342,331. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 213 

PORTO RICO. 

Porto Rico is described as "the healthiest of all the 
Antilles." The population, December 31, 1887, was 813,- 
937. The negro population is estimated at over 300,000. 
Slavery was abolished in 1873. Chief town, San Juan, 
23,414 inhabitants; Ponce 37,545; San German, 30,146. The 
Porto Rico budget for 1893-94 gave an estimated expendi- 
ture of 3,879,813 pesos, of which the Ministry of Finance 
absorbed 250,045 pesos, and the Ministry of War 
1,050,000 pesos, and an estimated income of 3,903,- 
655 pesos, of which the customs were estimated 
to produce 2,300,000 pesos, and direct and indirect 
taxes 1,358,800 pesos. The principal articles of ex- 
ports in 1895 were coffee, 16,884 tons (value $5,779,655); 
sugar, 54,861 tons ($3,560,655); tobacco, 1,807 tons ($763,- 
610). The total exports in 1893 amounted to $16,745,390, 
and imports to $17,320450. The value of the imports from 
Porto Rico into Spain in 1894 was 21,580,125 Spanish 
pesetas (a peseta equals 19 cents American money), and 
the exports from Spain to Porto Rico 28,678,899 
pesetas. In 1893, 1,034 vessels of 1,008.581 tons 
entered, and 999 vessels of 902,095 tons, cleared Porto 
Rico. 

In Porto Rico there are 470 miles of telegraph and 137 
miles of railway, besides over 170 miles under construction. 

In Porto Rico, the coin in use is the 5-pesetas piece. 



214 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

The coinage of Spanish dollars of similar value, to take 
their place, has been decreed. 

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

These islands extend almost due north and south from 
Formosa to Borneo and the Moluccas, embracing an 
extent of 16 degrees of latitude and 9 degrees of longitude. 
They are over 400 in number; the two largest are Luzon 
(area 40,024 square miles) and Mindanao. The capital of 
the Philippines, Manila, has 154,062 inhabitants (1887); 
other towns are Laog, 30,642; Lipa, 43,4o8; Banang, 35,598; 
Batangas, 35,587. There is a small resident Spanish popu- 
lation, but a large number of Chinese. The native inhab- 
itants are mostly of the Malayan race, but there are some 
tribes of Negritos. The Government is administered by a 
governor-general and a captain-general, and the 43 prov- 
inces are ruled by governors, alcaldes, or commandants, 
according to their importance and position. 

The estimated revenue of the Philippine Islands in 1894- 
95 was $13,600,000 and expenditure $13,200,000. There is an 
export duty on tobacco, and almost every article of for- 
eign production is heavily taxed on being imported. On 
muslins and petroleum the duty is about 100 per cent, of 
the cost. 

The chief products are hemp, sugar, coffee, copra, 
tobacco-leaf, cigars, indigo. Gold mining is being carried 
on in Luzon with favorable prospects, and coal mining in 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA. 215 

Cebu, where, when arrangements for carriage are com- 
pleted, the output is expected to be about 5,000 tons per 
month. 

In 1894, the total imports were valued at 28,530.000 
dollars; and exports at 33,250,000 dollars. In 1895, the 
chief exports were: hemp, 832.322 bales (1 bale equals 
about 2Y2 cwt), valued at $8,325,000: sugar, 230,083 tons, 
valued at $6,025,000; copra, 61,438 piculs, valued at $1,405,- 
000; tobacco-leaf, 207,371 quintals; cigars, 164,430,000; 
coffee, 194 tons. Owing to disease the production of 
coffee is falling off. The chief imports are rice, flour, 
wines, dress, petroleum, coal. In 1895, 177,620 piculs of 
rice were imported from Hong Kong, Saigon, and Singa- 
pore; 61,391 tons of coal from Australia and Japan; 357,- 
538 cases of petroleum. On an average about 34 per cent, 
of the import value is from the United Kingdom, 21 per 
cent, from Hong Kong and Amoy, 13 per cent, from 
Spain, and 10 per cent, from Singapore and British India. 
Imports into Spain from the Philippine Islands in 1894, 
17,994,838 pesetas; exports to Philippine Islands, 28,584,- 
122 pesetas. In 1895 304 vessels of 125,025 tons cleared 
the ports of Manila, Iloilo, and Cebu. There are 720 
miles of telegraph in the islands, and 70 miles of railway. 

The coin in use is the Mexican dollar with locally 
coined fractional money. The import of foreign money is 
illegal, but that of Mexican dollars is permitted. 



216 FOUR CENTURIES OF 



WEATHER OF CUBA. 

Temperature. — The average annual temperature of Ha- 
vana, as determined from the observations at Belen College, 
Havana, made during the decennium 1888-1897, may be stated 
in round numbers as 77° F. In this decennium the highest 
annual temperature was 77.2°, and this occurred upon three 
occasions; and the lowest annual temperature was 76.1°, and 
happened upon only one occasion, showing in the ten years 
an extreme range in annual averages of but 1.1° F. It would 
therefore, seem probable that the mean temperature for the 
decennial period 1888-1897 is about a true average for Havana 
for any long period. The warmest month at Havana is July, 
with an average temperature of 82.4° F. The warmest July 
in this decennium had an average temperature of 83.5° F., and 
the coolest July a temperature of 81.7° F. The warmest single 
month in the decennial period was August, 1888, when the 
average temperature was 84.2° F. The coldest month is Jan- 
uary, with an average temperature of 70.3° F., and the warmest 
and coldest Januaries in this decennium were, respectively, 
73.4° F. and 67.5° F. The highest temperature recorded was 
100.6° F. in July, 1891, and the lowest, 49.6° F. in February, 
1896. 

For Matanzas, on the coast about 50 miles east of Havana, 
there is a record for two years, beginning in August, 1832, and 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA 217 

ending in July, 1833, and again beginning in January, 1835, 
and ending with December of the same year. From this record 
the mean annual temperature at Matanzas appears to be about 
78°. The highest temperature is recorded as 93°, and the 
lowest as 51°. 

At Santiago, on the extreme southeast coast, the tempera- 
ture is apparently higher than on the northern and western 
coasts, and from the meager data available appears to be about 
80°, with an average difference between the warmest and coldest 
months of about 6° F. 

ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE. 

Relative Humidity . — The relative humidity of the atmos- 
phere appears to be fairly constant, as far as can be determined 
from the observations available. It averages about 75 per cent, 
of saturation. The mean relative humidity of the different 
months differs hardly enough to characterize one month as 
being drier or damper than another. 

From observations made at Havana at different hours of 
the day, it appears that the diurnal range of the relative 
humidity is considerable, varying from a maximum of about 
88 per cent, in the morning to a minimum of about 64 per cent, 
at noon. 

Absolute Humidity . — The absolute humidity is very great. 
At Havana the average is about 7.5 grains of vapor to the cubic 
foot of air. The absolute humidity varies from 6.2 grains per 
cubic foot in January to 8.9 grains in September. 



218 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

RAINFALL. 

The rainfall shows to a greater degree than the temperature 
the influence of locality and season of the year. The average 
rainfall for Havana is about 52 inches for the year. 

Observations have probably been taken continuously at 
Belen College Observatory since 1859, but the records on file 
in the Library of the Weather Bureau show a hiatus from 
1876 to 1884, inclusive. In the combined periods, 1859-75 and 
1885-97, the greatest annual rainfall was 71.40 inches in 1867, 
and the smallest fall was 40.59 inches in 1861. The average 
rainfall for the thirty years was 51.73 inches. 

The rainy season at Havana begins in the latter part of May 
and the first of June and ends with October. Relatively the 
greater bulk of the rain falls during the months from June to 
October. The average rainfall for this period is 32.37 inches, 
or 63 per cent, of the annual fall. 

STORMS. 

Thunderstorms, with much electrical display, are of frequent 

■ 

or almost daily occurrence, but little damage results from them. 
The West Indies are more or less subject during each summer 
to one or more severe tropical storms or hurricanes. These 
storms are more likely to occur in the months of August, Sep- 
tember and October. 



SPANISH RULE IN CUBA 219 

WEATHER OF MANILA. 

Manila, the capital and chief port of the Philippine Islands, 
is situated in latitude 14° 35' north, and in longitude 121° east 
of Greenwich. 

Meteorological observations have been made for many years 
at the Observatorio Meteorologico de Manila. Observations of 
rainfall for thirty-two consecutive years, and of other meteor- 
ological elements for seventeen consecutive years, have been 
published by the Observatory. 

Temperature. — The average temperature of the year is 
80° F. The months of April, May, and June are the hot- 
test part of the year. May, with an average temperature 
of 84° F., is the hottest of the three. December and January 
are the coolest months, each with an average temperature of 
77° F. The highest thermometer reading recorded is 100° F; 
this was observed in May. The lowest reading recorded is 
74°. and was observed in January. 

Humidity. — The average relative humidity is 78 per cent. 
That of the most humid month, which is September, is 85 per 
cent., and that of the least humid month, which is April, is 70 
per cent. The average absolute humidity is 8.75 grains in a 
cubic foot. It is greatest in August and least in February. 

Rainfall. — The average annual rainfall is 75.43 inches, of 
which 43.09 inches, more than 57 per cent., fall during the 
months of July, August and September, and 50.74 inches, 
more than 80 per cent., fall from June to October, inclusive. 
September has the largest average fall, 15.01 inches, and Feb- 



220 FOUR CENTURIES OF 

ruary the smallest average fall, 0.47 inches. The heaviest rain- 
fall in any one month was 61.43 inches in September, and 
sometimes no rain at all has fallen in February, March, April 
and May. 

Departures from the average rainfall are in some instances 
remarkable. For example, as much as 120.98 inches have 
fallen in one year, and as little as 35.65 inches in another. 
Still more remarkable was the fall of 61.43 inches in one 
September, and that of only 2.00 inches in another September. 



JUN 27 1898 



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